a + b at cambridge

knitwit

2010-11-20T10:37:00.003Z

Some British ladies taught me how to knit this year! One of my fun weekly activities in Cambridge was the Visiting Scholar's craft group. I basically knit only two different things while we were there – flowers and coin purses – but I made lots of them (for gifts).

I think knitting is really making a come-back. Starting with this photo:

princess coat!

2010-11-19T03:22:00.000Z

Kate Middleton, Britain's new princess-to-be has my England-coat in white! The degree of separation between me and royalty has just decreased (slightly).

I will now refer to it as my princess coat.

dan and meg visit!

2010-11-02T20:55:00.002Z

Dan and Meg came to visit us at the beginning of the summer. That also happened to be during THE VOLCANO DRAMA of 2010. Yes, in a moment of true foresight they booked tickets on ICELAND air with a stop off in Iceland. Needless to say the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull put a damper on their plans. It's a long story but they were delayed by about 2 days and Iceland air ended up flying them into Paris instead of London, where we had been supposed to meet up and take the train over together.

As a result Brandon and I took the train to Paris ourselves and had a couple of romantic days alone.

That's not us.

But that is.

And so is that.

Perhaps (or definitely) their visit is best summed up by the poetic card that Meg sent me after they returned home. Here is a "guest post" by Meghan illustrated by images (and lots of them) from our time together!

______________________

Hey let's go to England! ... so they did...
by Meghan Fordice

The journey began in September 2009 when you hopped on the plane with a layover in Iceland.

Shortly after A and J arrived, then Mom, Dad and Pooloo, then M and D came two days delayed attempting to fly the same route A and B did. What? A volcano? ... I think I just saw a Stegosaurus!

On to Paris and its crude yet magical wonder filled in each and every pastry bite.

There was laughter, tears from laughing, sore backs, a little vomit, more pastries and LOVE.

(we stayed here)

Onto that Eurostar and Chunnel!

(in the Chunnel)

Breathtaking beauty throughout the French and English countryside.

Pubs, pigeons, people and foreign places. London's home comfort and beauty and Cambridge's quaint peace and beauty.

Pure voices and English boys choirs. Immaculate chapels and college grounds. Academia at its finest; and yet a sense of peace, relaxation and exploration.

Adventures, food, photos, jesters, punting, cobblestone, friends and wine.

Pints, tea cups, antiques, trains, walks, bicycles, bollards, chocolate and cards.

Grantchester, fish and chips!

Oxford and Ely ... places of side adventures, explorations, history, philosophy, books, authors, tea and dreamt of journeys. The blessings of beautiful sunshine and safe travels.

(Oxford:)

(at C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien's table)

(Ely:)

Thank you for taking us on a journey over there. Your time and love and hospitality goes a long way. Someday we hope to host you two in an unknown land. We love you so much and can not wait to see you soon.

Love,
Meg and Dan

the heritage tour: england

2010-10-17T19:30:00.005+01:00

THE TRAIN BACK TO ENGLAND
We took the train back from Edinburgh to London.

Paul made friends with this Irish guy on the train, after he cursed Dad out in the station. They sat together laughing for 4 hours. Paul has a gift.

THE MOST DISTINGUISHED ORDER OF ST. MICHAEL and ST. GEORGE

The next morning we had the special privilege of attending the Ceremony of "The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George" at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. The tickets were available by special invitation only to families and friends of people in the Order. It is "an order of chivalry... used to honour individuals who have rendered important services in relation to Commonwealth or foreign nations. British Ambassadors to foreign nations are regularly appointed." (wikipedia) It's the sixth highest in the British honors system. We were invited by a woman in Cambridge whose grandfather was knighted into this Order.

The ceremony was amazing and so ...well...ceremonial! It was complete with British Royalty (the Queen's cousin not anyone we knew unfortunately), trumpet fanfare, a brass band, the choir of St. Paul's Cathedral, and the organ. We were pleasantly surprised to find out how it was basically a Christian church service, with scripture readings and hymns. The purpose was for newly appointed members to be honored and for all other members to re-commit themselves.

It felt like being at a Royal event too with all the women wearing hats or feathers in their hair, and all the men in their regalia or position-specific attire.

The whole time I kept feeling like I was at the wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles (which happened just where we sat). It was definitely an experience of a lifetime. One of the best parts, however was coming out of the cathedral afterwards and descending the grand staircase with many "important" British citizens and fancy-looking people, and seeing the crowd behind the barricades (they had it roped off for us) looking up and taking photos and wondering what was going on and why we were important. We weren't but it was fun to feel that way!

Brandon wore an academic gown (the attire of his position) but he happened to be the ONLY person in the whole place wearing one. He still looked quite smart and dapper. :)

Our whole Cambridge group.

We left all our luggage in the hotel lobby (yes this is the tiny lobby - the hotel was in a London terrace house) while we went to the ceremony at St. Paul's.

ASHDOWN PARK

After lunch at a pub we took the train out to East Grinstead and Ashdown Park, the old manor where my Mom lived and studied in college. The manor was originally home to a wealthy family, then it was a convent, then a college, and now it's a high-end resort. We had an AMAZING time, and it was certainly the fanciest place I've ever stayed (think one-use individual hand towels in every public loo). It was so fun to spend time in a large estate home and grounds just like the ones where Jane Austen stories take place. I read all of those this year and this really brought them to life. I love the life of leisure! :)

We had a very glamourous time eating a four course meal with palette cleansers between each in the elaborate dining room.

Before the meal:

The meal:

Duck con fit.

Dessert! A. MAZING.

Mom's spoon was too big!

We explored the hotel and Chapel. They also took us around trying to find Mom's old dorm room! It was really fun to stay somewhere where it took at least 15 minutes to "run to your room" as you had to walk through a maze of hallways and staircases to get there. No lifts.

Along the whole ground floor of one of the buildings were elaborate Jane-Austen-style "drawing rooms" where we relaxed and hung out. This is where they served high tea and drinks before dinner.

Ashdown Park is also situated on "Winnie-the-Pooh's Forest." This is where A.A. Milne lived and wrote the Winnie-the-Pooh stories.

GIANT TREE!

We explored the grounds and Pooh's forest.

We also played mini-golf in the lawn. And in the pitch black. Paul shot a HOLE IN ONE in COMPLETE darkness!!!

CAMBRIDGE
Lastly, we went home to Cambridge and spent some time there. The first time they came to visit it was during the dead of the English winter so this visit was much more pleasant! :)

We went punting again, and everyone took turns as the "pusher." I was hoping mom would be really funny to watch but she did so well that I couldn't make fun of her! Everyone was good at it, but we still had lots of laughs.

For the FIRST TIME EVER (though we were warned about it before every punt) we lost the pole! Well, Brandon lost the pole, but it wasn't his fault as it got wedged in some stones on the bottom. We had to paddle back and get it! So funny.

We walked a few miles along the river down to "The Orchard" in Grantchester. A world famous tea house where the likes of Rupert Brooke, Bertrand Russell, Wittgenstein, and Lord Byron have sipped their tea and whiled away the hours under the shade of the apple trees. We got the classic "cream tea" with scones and clotted cream.

Paul sniffing a giant thistle and suffering the consequence.

The cramped sleeping situation in our tiny flat. :) Yes, they are on the kitchen floor.

We hung out in C.S. Lewis' favourite Cambridge pub, the Pickerel Inn.

Mom and I went shopping at our favourite Cambridge shops!

We went to Shakespeare in the Park in St. John's College gardens, and saw The Taming of the Shrew.

They came to Summa Dinner and met our friends!

We took a day-trip to Ely and had an awesome time exploring the sister city (in our minds) to Ely, Minnesota. Ely is the head of the Ely Diocese (our diocese in Cambridge) and home to the GIANT Ely Cathedral which was begun in the late 11th century.

I had wanted to take Mom to the idyllic Peacock's Tea Room so badly! It won Britain's Best Tea Room in 2007.

We spent HOURS and HOURS antiquing. It was wonderful.

Brandon and Paul got cricket paddles at the antique shop. Now they are ready for the Zombie Apocalypse.

We had very fun and also very useful visit as Mom/Dad/Paul brought bags and bags of our stuff back to the U.S. for us! We couldn't have done it without you. :) The end.

the heritage tour: scotland

2010-10-02T13:30:00.002+01:00

My Dad, Mom and brother Paul came back over to visit near the end of our time in England and we went on what my Dad cleverly called "The Heritage Tour." It was thusly named as we explored Scotland, the land of (some of) our ancestors and afterwards visited the English manor where my Mom studied in College.

Our Scotland trip (a long summary):

FORDYCE
As most of you know my maiden name is FORDICE. For a long time we've known of the existence of a little town in Scotland by that name, but with the other (older?) spelling "Fordyce." A couple years ago we also discovered (ahhh the internet) that the FORDYCE Castle was for sale! We were very tempted to buy it and tried to get all our family members to pitch in and raise the £2 million (that's pounds mind you) we needed, but we didn't quite make it. As added motivation the castle came with the "Right of Barony" which would make the owner BARON OF FORDYCE! How awesome is that? We just visited...as in looked at it from the outside.

Visiting Fordyce was one of our first priorities, and we are so glad we did! It has to be the cutest, neatest, TIDIEST town I've ever seen, and had some of the best gardens. Fordyce has only one business, a restaurant/gift shop in an old house. We went and ate and talked to town's people, who told us they hadn't met many Fordyces in their time. How odd. I guess we were some of the only recent Fordice pilgrims. We did find some distant relatives in the Fordyce Church cemetery.

We also met this man who spoke in the local dialect and then translated it for us:

And here is his translation:

EDINBURGH
Spent a few days exploring Edinburgh. It's a beautiful city with a completely unique look, feel and architectural style. We visited the Edinburgh Castle, saw the tomb of Robert Burns, and did lots of eating and shopping.

We took pictures, and more pictures.

We are very serious about getting a GOOD photo, and do what it takes. :)

TRAINS
We took the train from London to Edinburgh and then rented a car. Taking the train has been a highlight of living in Europe. It's oh so quick, simple and easy with lovely views you can sit there and soak up. We took the East Coast train so we could see the sea.

THE AUTOMOBILE
As we all know when renting a car you never get the one you reserve, an its nothing different in Scotland. We had five people and LOTS of luggage so we needed something big (big cars don't really exist in the UK). Dad reserved a station wagon or something, but when we got there they told us they didn't have one, then took us to the lot. As we waited Dad saw a nice Mercedes which was very wide and low, as he admired it they handed him the keys, it was OUR car! A wide car feels wider on a tiny road and when you're on the left.

The car. Some jerk stole the symbol off the front.

The joy on Dad's face when he saw the car!

THE ROADS
Dad and Brandon both took turns braving the roads and our back-seat driving. Paul and I tried our hands at driving on the left as well! It wasn't weird after being over there so long. The strangest part was steering from the other side of the car. The Mercedes was fast and low and wide. That car was FUN for Dad to drive but no fun for Mom to ride in on the SKINNY windy hilly curvy blinding roads of Scotland.

Mom telling dad where to go on the GPS.

Brandon getting ready for his driving debut!

He doesn't look scared here does he? :)

ME driving on the left!

Cheering mom up on one our long road-trips!

It rained A LOT while we were driving, but would stop amazingly as soon as we wanted to do anything. We only got rained out of one beach visit, the whole trip.

LOCH NESS
After Edinburgh we drove up through the highlands and stopped to see Loch Ness. WE SAW THE LOCH NESS MONSTER but unfortunately she is made of some sort of metal, and that was a pretty big bummer, but we did get pictures with her! We watched the water for some time but Nessie, or "Bessie" as Paul called her :), never did show up.

THE SCOTCH
We went to the Northish Eastiest part of Scotland called Speyside, and that happens to be the small area where over half the whiskey distilleries in Scotland are located. After researching dozens Brandon somehow decided on visiting ABERLOUR Distillery. We had a tour and then a tasting. While on the tour we got to try the "mash" which is an early stage in the Scotch-making process. Our tour guide (great grandson of one of the founders) lowered a bottle into the vat and let us drink some. It was like a warm light beer mmmmm. Throughout our tour he kept emphasizing the importance of the clear fresh spring water from the stream (burn) running by the distillery. He also showed us the various stages the whiskey goes through before its final distillation. At one stage it is clear and over 70% alcohol. When we got down to the tasting area he explained that the first glass was filled with water from the burn so we could taste how wonderful it was. We all lifted our glasses to try it at once and Brandon and Paul shot it back, only to realize (with a shock) that it was actually the clear 70%+ whiskey NOT water. Our guide was playing a trick on us! I had inhaled before drinking and the smell alone slapped me in the face, so I didn't fall for it. :)

Sniffing

THE KILT!
Paul has been wanting a kilt for I-don't-know-how-long and during our heritage tour in Scotland was the perfect time to buy one. He asked around and shopped around and finally found a little shop in an alley and spent hours picking one out. His kilt is in the traditional tartan of Forbes our family clan, and he got it military pleated. It takes months to be handmade so he hasn't received it yet, but he is going to rock that thing, and we're afraid of how seriously he's going to take the dress code that goes along with it (if you know what I mean).

THE SEA

Mom heard that you could see Norway on a good day from the shore. We WERE SURE we had seen it until the very end of our trip when we found out it was actually 200ish miles away. Yeah, it was probably some clouds not Norway. Darn.

Our hotel on the sea in Cullen. There were large dolphins in the water below, and they gave us shows while we ate breakfast.

THE VILLAGES

*by paul fordice

THE LANDSCAPE
The landscape in Scotland was beautiful. It was very other-worldly, especially the highlands. Here are some photos.

A highland or "emo" cow.

Scotland's national flower/plant/icon thinger - the thistle.

THE FAMILY!

ST. ANDREWS
We stopped at St. Andrews on our way home from Scotland. It was right after "THE OPEN" and the place was a bit of a mess because of it. We ate at the golf course club house which we learned had been the players lounge during the tournament, and explored the town.

THE LIGHT
The light was amazing in Scotland. It was different, and rich and soft and bright and dark at the same time. It is probably because there is always a sort of haze hovering in the air making everything look moody, magical and enchanted. All that wetness also makes everything green green green and LUSH. I LOVED it.

*by paul fordice

why i miss cambridge #256

2010-09-28T04:28:00.000+01:00

A normal day on the River Cam as I'd cross on my bicycle ride home (ok, there isn't live music every day).

I would always stop to soak it in, even in the rain.

back in the US... back in the USA

2010-09-19T17:05:00.000+01:00

(read title to the tune of The Beatles "Back in the USSR.")

In case anyone out there was wondering whether we are still alive or if we have been marooned LOSTesque on some desert island, I thought I should finally get my act together and write a post!

Hello!

_________________________

Here's a quick summary of our last 2 months:

We made it safely back to America after only one short and incredibly sketchy stop in Gander, Canada. They parked the plane and we all got out (down the steps celebrity-style) and walked into the Gander airport. We were literally the ONLY people there, and they were turning on the lights as we got inside. We didn't have to bring our passports or even our tickets with us to get back on the plane. The terminal was the equivalent of a shoddy gas station and consisted of a closed food counter and a tacky gift shop. The gift shop sold a variety of duty-free alcohol and kitschy patriotic Canadian paraphernalia. We had only about half an hour before we had to be back on the plane, which wasn't enough time for me to make it through the line (I wanted an ice cream bar) and the whole plane ended up waiting for me and some buy buying a giant bottle of vodka.

We touched down on U.S. soil and lots of my family members were waiting to greet us as we came through customs! Nearly half an hour after getting back we had a welcome home party by my Aunt Kathy! It was really fun to see tons of my family right away and have such an energetic welcome.

It is so good to be back at HOME.

We spent the first portion of our time in Minnesota with my family, then we spent the second portion in Iowa with Brandon's family and had an amazing time! (More on those later)

We loaded down ours cars and caravanned across the country back to Charlotte, stopping along the way to visit good friends.

We threw ourselves back into "real life." Brandon started class the day after we got to Charlotte, and I started back at my old job 3 days after.

And Brandon grew a "beard."

_________________________

We have been debating what to do with our blog now that A and B are no longer at Cambridge. I think we've decided to write some final posts about the end of our time in England and the beginning of our time in America, then sadly put this blog to rest perhaps some day to be revived *insert wishful thinking of more time at Cambridge during Brandon's phd.*

So keep checking back as we wrap this up, and look out for a possible NEW blog with much less interesting content. :) Bye friends!

final countdown.

2010-07-31T21:55:00.000+01:00

Well, we are now just HOURS away from leaving our new little home in Cambridge and coming back to our REAL HOMES. This time is very bittersweet as we've both LOVED our life and time over here, but are also ready to be back with the family and friends we miss so much.

Things have only been more and more busy as the end draws near. We had a wonderful visit from my Mom and Dad and Paul last week. We explored Scotland and our family heritage and also had great quality family time!

We've been cleaning like FIENDS for the last few days in preparation for our move and I'm happy to announce we PASSED our move-out inspection today! *ra ra ra*

As we reflect on our year in Cambridge we remember many of the things we dearly miss from home and begin to realize what we will dearly miss from the UK once we're gone. Following are our always developing lists:

Things we miss about HOME:

- Family
- Friends
- All the American luxuries
- Cars
- Our TV
- Washing machine and dryer
- Big spaces
- The FOOD:
  - Cheap food
  - Chinese food
  - Mexican food
  - Midwestern food
  - Our mom's cooking
  - Chocolate chips and Chocolate chip cookies
  - Pizza
  - Double-Stuffed Oreos
- Thunderstorms
- Garbage disposal
- Efficiency
- Lakes
- Red Barns
- Sweet corn

Things we WILL miss about CAMBRIDGE:

- Pubs
- Punting
- The charm
- The culture
- Trains
- The beauty
- The British accents
- British phrases
- Hearing tons of different languages all around you but always being able to communicate and ask questions of anyone
- Cycling
- English gardens
- Green everywhere
- Tea rooms
- The tidiness
- Cottages and villages
- The colleges
- The history
- Our church
- Living in Europe - so close to so many amazing places
- The churches
- The bells
- Nearly NO bugs
- The weather (shocking I know - Ok I could leave the month of February but the rest was GREAT!)
- The red phone booths and post boxes
- Seeing random men walking around with top hats and tails
- Seeing random Shakespeare-era costumes walking about
- Academic gowns
- Cobble stones
- The market

Ok, these lists are NOT exhaustive. I had to cut this post short as we have to turn off our internet right now, but we will be HOME SOON!

the end.

2010-07-15T16:04:00.000+01:00

On Monday I finished the Summa Theologiae. More accurately, we finished the Summa. The seven of us who have worked through the Summa for the past year spent the evening finishing together and celebrating. Using a room at Trinity College, we read the last article at the same time. Then we celebrated for a while, went night punting and watched a classic - Point Break. The evening was fantastic, a fitting conclusion to the year. Pictures:

p.s. Before you think we are alcoholics, we had a generous friend donate a bunch of things to us... many of which weren't finished.

english change ringing

2010-07-13T17:56:00.000+01:00

We went to a church south of Cambridge recently to witness the English bell ringing technique called change ringing. I have learned about this on many of the weekly Cambridge walking tours I take, and was very curious to see how it's done.

"Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called "changes." It differs from many other forms of campanology in that no attempt is made to produce a conventional melody. It remains most popular in the context where, in the 17th century, it developed: English church towers."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_ringing)

Up in the bell tower. The bells weighed some thousand pounds each. Some of them were as old as the 15th Century, and some had been melted down and re-cast.

Going up all those rickety ladders made me very aware of how long it had been since I'd climbed a ladder, and how rusty I was. But I survived.

The ringers. It looked physically strenuous and even more mentally strenuous to play, but there was a little 8 year old girl amongst them, making it seem easy. (See the rickety ladder over there?!)

The "music"/ bell sequences they MEMORIZE and play. Ok, not so easy. It blows my mind, actually.

cambridge bumps

2010-07-12T17:50:00.000+01:00

A few weeks ago we attended a classic Cambridge summertime festivity, the Cambridge Bumps boat races. The bumps are an Oxbridge phenomena where boats from varying Colleges and clubs and even pubs race for miles down the river with spaced starting times and try to catch up to or "bump" the boat in front of them.

For you sports-fans who want more info about the Bumps here is the wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumps_race

Here are some rowers who are gentleman on top and athlete on the bottom.

It was a lovely English midsummer's activity.

R.I.P. my first little mac.

2010-07-05T17:52:00.000+01:00

Well, it's official. After nearly 8 long and wonderful years together my very first Mac has died.

He was my first, the one who successfully and passionately converted me from PC, and he has been there with me from design-school to marriage, to moving across the country and then moving across the world. I have written this corny poem in loving memory of him, my first little Mac.

Goodbye my first little Mac.
by andrea dahm

I will miss you my first little Mac,
once I left PC I never looked back.

All through design school
you were the best little tool.

The hours we spent together
could be described as forever.

Till all hours of the night,
you never put up a fight.

You were with me so many years,
through the laughter and the tears.

You fought and lived on and on,
when all other laptops were long dead and gone.

But now I must put you to rest,
comforted in knowing you were the best.

So, goodbye my first little Mac.

happy rebellion day!

2010-07-05T17:33:00.001+01:00

We enjoyed celebrating a triumphant Independence Day from Britain IN Britain, yesterday.
At church while talking to a Scottish friend about the large bag of food I was toting I said "It's the 4th of July for us today!" and he replied "Yes, it's the 4th of July for us too." hehe

As we were leaving church our vicar wished us a "Happy Rebellion Day!" We found it quite humorous. We celebrated our proud patriotism at a BBQ with all of our fellow ex pats.

Wishing you all a Happy Rebellion Day (a bit late).

The Cambridge Young Americans

Witherspoon's signature on the Declaration of Independence

week in wales.

2010-06-25T14:03:00.006+01:00

Well we're back from a wonderful week in Wales! It was a really relaxing week where we got to spend lots of quality time with each other, with the Summa group and also a lot of quiet time alone, reading, wandering and playing with sheep. We were in Pembrokeshire on the south coast and the area was GOR-GEOUS. It was even better than we had imagined.
(descriptions will be under their photos)

The Hookses, the Christian retreat centre where we stayed, was wonderful. It was very nicely remodeled and had about 11 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms, including three cabin-like buildings not connected to the main house. It had a large and comfortable family room and deck with a killer view, where we all spent lots of time.

The cliffs and the countryside were so picturesque and the sheep perfectly completed the scene.

I loved watching how the view from our house changed with different light and weather (this time the photos are below):

The guys studied every day as well as doing presentations on related topics/issues they are studying on their own. They also held disputations where they discussed, argued and worked out all the world's problems.

We did group dinners each taking a night to make a meal. It was fun to all be able to sit together at ONE table.

I worked on paintings, explored, read, cooked, played with babies and went on walks with Brandon or the other ladies. I am reading Emma which is my last Jane Austen book to finish and I will have read all of her works since living in England.

The roads were scary skinny, windy and hilly. They were surrounded on both sides by hedges or mounds of grasses that covered what you knew was breathtaking scenery. Every once in a while a small gate would give you a little glimpse of what you were missing. Luckily, we got plenty of time to explore on foot. The roads were so thin that we TWICE hit mirrors with on-coming cars. The other people didn't even seem to notice.

We had perfect weather the whole week. There were a couple of fittingly over-cast spells but the rest of time was clear and sunny and in the mid-high 70s. Weirdly, I even got quite a tan.

The Hookses has an abandoned WWII runway as part of its driveway. There are several runways on the cliff-tops and many old airplane hanger-skeletons in the distance. It was interesting to imagine the planes flying in and out of there during the war.

We spent one afternoon deep sea fishing and could see The Hookses from where we dropped anchor. The Swanson's owned by catching 4 mackerel (and two cod that were too small to keep) and Kody caught one big cod. Brandon and Kevin fried them up for dinner and we each got a nibble. Very tasty!

There were two large islands a ways off shore, which are home to PUFFINS! We really wanted to go and see them but didn't get the chance.

The group took a few beach excursions. The guys took freezing afternoon dips while the ladies stayed hot and dry on the beach. One night we built a bonfire and watched the sun set around 9:45pm. It didn't get DARK dark until after midnight while we were there. It was wonderful to be out in nature enjoying some of the longest days we will likely ever experience.

Another night, we went to Marloes Sands beach and the guys climbed out into a natural rock tunnel with a pool in front of it. While we were out there we got stranded by the swiftly in-coming tide and ended up having to walk out through the breaking waves to get back to the beach. Brandon and Peter helped Jill navigate with the baby. Kevin also found Brandon's sandals floating in the waves as the place he had left them was completely submerged.

Our last night we saw a friendly little badger atop one of the hills in front of the house. He probably wasn't friendly at all but he was adorable. I found a super cheap and water-damaged book about Bill Badger on our way home and bought it as a nice little souvenir.

We drove there and back again with Peter, Jill and Juliann. On our way home to England we took it very leisurely. We drove on smaller country roads so we could enjoy the beautiful countryside, and made lots of stops.

The men arranged an outing for us at Hay on Wye, a little book-town right on the border of England. It was a very charming place and had plenty of good antiques and desserts to keep Jill and I entertained while the guys hunted for books. We had dinner there and then headed back to Cambridge.

Well that wraps up my summary of our adventures in Wales. To see over a thousand more photos of our week visit our set on flickr.

getting a pint with Lewis.

2010-06-11T12:50:00.000+01:00

With our guests over the last few weeks we visited two of C.S. Lewis's regular pubs. The first and more famous of pubs is in Oxford. The Eagle and the Child (known as the Bird and the Babe to locals) was the meeting place of the Inklings. This was a group of scholars who met regularly to discuss their work and literature. Lewis's good friend J.R.R. Tolkien was also a regular of the group. We went with Dan and Meg (Andrea's brother and his wife) and sat at the table where the Inklings used to sit. It was surreal to sit where these men who have been so informative in my life used to sit. We had a pint, dinner and read a little from some of Lewis and Tolkien's writings.

The other pub is the Pickerel Inn, which was Lewis's regular pub while he was at Cambridge. It sits across the street from Magdalene College (pronounced Maudlin), Lewis's college here (and in Oxford as well, although they drop the 'e' from the end). This pub also has the perk of serving one of my favorite real ales - Old Peculiar. It was nice to visit this place with good friends.

Lewis said in Four Loves:

Friendship arises out of mere Companionship when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest or even taste which the others do not share and which, till that moment, each believed to be his own unique treasure (or burden). The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, 'What? You too? I thought I was the only one'....

In our own time Friendship arises in the same way. For us of course the shared activity and therefore the companionship on which Friendship supervenes will not often be a bodily one like hunting or fighting. It may be a common religion, common studies, a common profession, even a common recreation. All who share it will be our companions, but one or two or three who share something more will be our Friends. In this kind of love, as Emerson said, Do you love me? means Do you see the same truth? - Or at least, 'Do you care about the same truth?' The man who agrees with us that some question, little regarded by others, is of great importance, can be our Friend. he need not agree with us about the answer.

On these visits, Lewis himself was our common interest. He is part of our friendship.

it's been awhile...

2010-06-10T23:58:00.001+01:00

Our apologies for so neglecting our blog over the last month! We have been busy in a good way.

Here's an overview of our shenanigans:

(photos below their descriptions)

- A visit to Stratford-upon-Avon ... Shakespeare's hometown. We visited the room where he was born, explored the town, visited the church where he is buried (closed when we got there) and saw Romeo and Juliet performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

- A marvelously magical visit by Dan and Meg (who arrived late because of the volcano)! We did a shot-gun Paris tour, scurried through London, explored Cambridge, compared it with Oxford, and spent lots of quality time together on our many adventures.

- An abundantly blissful visit from Heather and Adam! We spent our time betting at the horse races, relaxing, picnicking, strolling, cycling, river-floating, sun-soaking, eating, tea/ale-sipping, shopping and laughing.

- Met the mayor of Cambridge at a garden party at Corpus Christi.

- Threw a surprise baby shower for Philly at The Orchard (with Jill and Dee).

- Went with my knitting group to give the Vice Chancellor of Cambridge a scarf hand-knit by our knitting fiends. I knit her a flower broach which we also used to decorate the box.

- Went to a lecture by Alasdair MacIntyre, one of the greatest living philosophers.

- Intense Summa study by Brandon (all throughout).

We leave Sunday to spend a week secluded on the south coast of Wales. We will be staying at "The Hookses" the old home of John Stott, which is now available as a retreat centre. We are going with Brandon's Summa Seminar group. The men will spend time studying as well as giving talks on things they've been learning and researching on their own. The ladies will explore the coast, enjoy the beach, get in some good reading (hopefully painting and sketching as well) and prepare meals. We will have no internet. *sigh*

I hope to do some of these events more justice when we return, but these are a teaser until then. Cheerio.

doppelgänger

2010-05-06T20:30:00.002+01:00

This is not Brandon Isaac Dahm.

Caught on film: 04.01.2010 | 10:06:59 | Montmartre, Paris

our easter à notre-dame

2010-05-05T17:51:00.000+01:00

For our Easter celebration Parisian-style we decided to brave the 3.5 hour all-in-French Easter Mass at Notre-Dame on Saturday night before Easter.

They began the service outside the main doors of the cathedral, where they built a bonfire. The Cardinal of Paris lit a large candle from the fire and lead a procession into the cathedral which was in complete darkness. This was to represent the light of Christ coming into the darkness of the world. Everyone was given a candle which other priests lit as the processional passed by. The light from all the candles together was amazingly bright and the light nearly reached the top of the ceiling. It was beautiful.

As the service progressed they did scripture readings followed by short chants and responses, followed by the choir singing. They repeated this many times as they moved through texts beginning in Genesis 1 and proceeding on until Christ's death and resurrection. When we reached the resurrection they raised all the lights in the cathedral which was very powerful! We were really fortunate that they gave us detailed programs which had nearly everything they said and sang written out in them. It was written and spoken in French but between being familiar with some French and knowing the parts of the Bible they were reading we were able to follow along surprisingly well.

I was concerned beforehand that I might start nodding off in the late night warmth and darkness for so many hours, and without being able to understand anything, but that wasn't a problem at all. It was completely engaging the entire time!

To complete the perfect picture the huge pipe-organ was playing creepy and perfectly Notre-Dame-esque music throughout the mass:

It was an experience of a lifetime and Brandon's favorite thing we did in Paris.

As we all left the cathedral the hunch-back serenaded us on the bells!

We also learned from Marie that in France the Easter tradition is that the church bells disappear from the bell-towers the night before easter and then on Easter morning they bring chocolates to all the children. Yes, the bells sneak into your house and bring you chocolates. Now, the easter bunny doesn't make much sense but it makes way more sense than bells. How the heck do these stories get started and incorporated into culture anyway?

waving our stars and stripes

2010-04-24T20:41:00.002+01:00

Since living in Europe we have MANY times thought that we need to carry around tiny American flags to wave whenever we do something tacky or that makes it obvious we "aren't from around here." The flags were needed many times on this trip as well:

As soon as I stepped off the plane into the Paris airport I was reminded that Parisians wear BLACK. I knew this before but colorful-England had made me forget. I instantly felt out of place in my bright blue coat! If that wasn't bad enough, I walked around with my camera around my neck pretty much the entire time. It was safer and handier, plus I figured I might as well embrace the tourist role. *waves american flag*

There were a few instances when, though trying to speak in the native language, talk quietly and be polite, we were forced to wave our flags high and ask our waiters how to eat the food we had ordered.

Brandon attempted to get this concept across to the waiter after ordering Escargot: "Ummmm, excuse me HOW do I eat these?" *waves american flag* "They are covered in butter, extremely slippery and have only a tiny opening. I see that you have given me these two metal tools but I have no idea what to do with them. Thanks.... er I mean... Merci."

After we figured out how to eat them, I tried one. When I attempted to scoop the slug out of the tiny opening in the shell with the tiny fork while holding it in the little tongs it kept spinning around and I couldn't get it. So I squeezed the tongs more thinking it would clamp down tighter on the shell. Instead the tongs opened and the snail dropped into my soup with a big PLOP, splattering soup about!

The scene of the incident:

As we were getting up to leave the café I accidentally closed my coat around one of the water glasses and the waiter saw it. As he was saying "FAITES ATTENTION!" I turned to try and figure out what he was referring to and knocked it onto the floor, shattering it everywhere. *waves American flag*

Then, in Italy, while we were at our nicest dinner of the week, Brandon ordered stuffed mussels and they came slimy and slathered in sauce, but this time there were no metal utensils included. So Brandon had to try and ask our waiter (who basically spoke no English (hello and thanks but other than that he spoke to us in Italian and we spoke to him in English and it somehow worked really well)) how to eat them. The waiter responded by just holding up both of his hands. Brandon held his in the same way and asked "with my hands?" The waiter seemed to confirm it. Brandon observed that he was getting very mixed signals from the restaurant about it's standards of behavior.

So, I wanted to let you all know that you can be encouraged. We are over here continuing to proudly represent the USA and encourage American stereotypes everywhere we go! You're welcome.

pardon my french

2010-04-22T11:10:00.001+01:00

When we arrived in Paris, I quickly realized that my high school French was nearly gone entirely. I can remember a lot of words and useful phrases, but could only understand random words from conversations, and if a waiter started to talk with me while I was ordering I would have to admit I did not understand.

Having Marie there with us was extremely helpful. She explained how things worked and what things were (especially in relation to menus). As the week progressed I was starting to feel more confident about speaking in French and starting to remember more.

At the Monet Museum I took a trip to the loo, which had two stalls. One of them was occupied and I realized that the other one didn't have any toilet paper. So I was standing there waiting when another woman came in. She looked at the empty stall, and back at me, and back at the stall again in a questioning manner. I anxiously wanted to communicate the situation to her and especially to warn her of the lack of toilet paper, so I composed a French sentence ON MY OWN and told her that there was no toilet paper.

She looked at me in an understanding manner and nodded, then after a few seconds went into the stall anyway. I thought that was sort of strange but assumed she must have had kleenex in her purse or something (a common and wise practice when using European bathrooms).

I was SO proud of myself for thinking fast, speaking in French (all on my own) and actually communicating with someone! As we were leaving I was excitedly telling Brandon the story and Marie asked me what I had said to her. I repeated my sentence and Marie started laughing hysterically. Afraid, I asked what I had said and Marie told me, "you said, 'The door is not made of toilet paper!'"

So, I guess the lady was probably a bit confused by my excited declaration of nonsense. Oops!

dear french food, i love you.

2010-04-19T21:48:00.001+01:00

French food was one of the best parts about Paris. Early in the trip we decided our souvenir would be our gained weight. And we went for it, so this is going to be a long post. But it will be almost entirely pictures with an occasional explanation.

mornings.

my standard breakfast was pain au chocolat and an espresso.

but then there were others...

and so you have an idea of what we were choosing from,

lunchish.

kind of scary.

steak tartare (raw ground beef),

escargot (snails),

dinnerish.

lamb with eggplant,

duck with potatoes on top - delicious,

some kind of steak,

crepes.

our first crepes were from this stand. the crepiteer put four times as much grand marnier as normal, without flambeing it. so it wasn't great,

this was the bretonne creperie, amazing. the one pictured had ham, cheese and egg,

dessert.

each of the pastry pieces has ice cream in it,

meringue with caramel,

amazing chocolate mousse,

dessert window shopping,

welcome to paris

2010-04-18T17:47:00.003+01:00

The first part of my visit to a big city makes me acutely aware of being a small town kid. Pella, my hometown, is a safe, clean and relatively affluent place. The first leg of our vacation landed us just outside of Paris, trying to figure out which train to take into the city. After finding seats, we were followed in by an older man with a wine bottle. He stayed on the train and walked up and down the car asking for cigarettes and money. He was polite to us, but began to pester some of the other passengers. Eventually he stuck to a family made up of a woman and her two teenage kids, one boy and one girl. Not knowing French, we couldn't tell if he was being offensive or just obnoxious. The twenty-something, well-dressed Frenchman across from us could understand him though. After the mother had yelled at the man to leave them alone, the Frenchman, calmly and deliberately, placed his book back in his bag and took out his earbuds and put them away. He then turned around and gave the drunk man the evil eye.

This was noticed and drew the drunk guy away from the family, towards the Frenchman. The first couple of back and forths were calm, but eventually the Frenchman yelled at him. The drunk man moved back for a bit, but he shortly resumed his efforts to offend. It worked. The Frenchman stood up and gave the drunk guy a shove. The drunk guy changed his grip on the wine bottle from "hold-as-to-drink" to "hold-as-to-swing-at-guy-who-just-shoved-me" and began to put it to use. This was met with gasps and "no, no, no," stopping the swing. The Frenchman stood his ground while the drunk guy walked away, muttering until he got off at the next stop. It looked something like this,

After he got off, I clumsily asked him if he spoke English. He did, and he explained that the drunk guy had been saying crude things to the teenage girl. He had been looking at us to for reactions to see if she was alright, but since we had no idea what was being said we were fairly useless for that. It turns out our Frenchman does not regularly deal out street justice; we thanked him and got off at our stop.

Skip ahead to the next morning, we headed to montmartre where a pigeon pooped on my head. With these two events, Paris welcomed me.

april in paris: overview

2010-04-18T17:17:00.000+01:00

How to blog about our trip. That is the question. We have decided to give a brief overview of each location followed by separate posts telling more specific stories. So that's what you get. :)

* PARIS *

My French sister Marie (whose family I stayed with when I went to France in high school and who stayed with my family one summer) invited us to Paris for the week, put us up in her brother's awesome apartment and was our exquisite personal tour guide of Paris and of French food!

We were in Paris for 6 days and here is an outline of what we did:
(I apologize if this is WAY more information than anyone else cares about, this is for our moms!)

Wednesday, March 31
- Arrived in Paris - met up with Marie (when we EVENTUALLY found her). Went out for our first tasty French meal. mmmm.

Thursday, April 1
- Montmartre - Ate pastries and drank coffee a sidewalk café, wandered around Painter's Square, went into Sacré Coeur. Love that neighborhood. Walked from Place de la Concorde up the Champs-Élysées, went under the Arc de Triomphe, bought lunch. Took our lunch to Trocadéro and ate it by the Eiffel Tower! Sunned ourselves in the Jardin des Tuileries, saw the Louvre. Met up with Marie's sister Claire for pastries then went to church at Notre Dame des Champs. Ate crêpes for dinner.

Friday, April 2
- Had the day to ourselves. Went to Notre Dame and Île de la cité. Explored the Latin Quarter and had lunch in a little café. Saw the University of Paris - Sorbonne (where Aquinas was!). Started pouring so we decided to go to a museum. Walked to the Musée d'Orsay but the queue was half way around the city. Went to the little Musée de l'Orangerie instead, and saw Monet's water lilies. AWESOME. Saw a rainbow over Place de la Concorde. Walked up the Champs-Élysées and went to a movie. No butter for popcorn. Ate pizzas and pastries from the little Patisserie by our apartment for dinner.

Saturday, April 3
- Ate an AMAZING huge authentic French brunch for over 2 hours. Went to Musée Jacquemart-André in gorgeous Parisian home from the 1800s (looks like Versailles on the inside). Walked around Paris and went to the "covered streets." Ate dinner at a café with a view of Notre Dame. Went to the 3.5 hour Candlelit Easter Service at Notre Dame. Event of a lifetime.

Sunday, April 4
- Patisserie for breakfast with Marie. Monet museum. Wandered the Jewish quarter. Lunch at a café. Wandered le Marais. Saw Picasso's house. Passed the Centre Pompidou. Went to a neighborhood of old crêperies, and had an authentic Bretonne (from Brittany) meal (Marie is Bretonne). Had the best crêpe on earth!

Monday, April 5
- Another A & B day. Pastries in front of the Eiffel Tower. Back to Montmartre to hang out. Lunch on Painter's Square. Relaxed on the steps of Sacré Coeur. Met up with Marie. Had crêpes. Sat at a café. Just B and I went down to the Eiffel Tower and sat on the ground in front of it for over 2 hours to watch the sunset and to watch it sparkle. Ate pastries on our way home.

Tuesday, April 6
- Breakfast and goodbyes with Marie. Flew over Paris and the Swiss Alps and the Mediterranean to Italy.

we're HOME (away from home)!

2010-04-13T22:48:00.001+01:00

We made it safely back to England from Paris and Italy, and my does England feel like home now that we're back! It is so quaint, tidy and proper here, and it's soooo nice/useful to be able to communicate. We had an amazing trip and it seriously felt like we were gone over a month. Planning a relaxing and leisurely vacation has a lot of benefits one being it makes you feel like you were away longer.

Here are some teaser photos until I can sift through the 2, 941 photos that I took (wow, that number sounds weirdly small, I better go back and get some more).

vacation.

2010-03-30T23:21:00.002+01:00

Tomorrow we leave for a two week vacation. The first week we will spend in Paris. Andrea's sister from her host family when she visited France in high school is kindly giving us a place to stay and showing us around the city. Our Paris itinerary is delightfully lacking specifics except eating a lot of good food. Next Tuesday we fly into Pisa where we will glance at some failed architecture and make our way to the coast. The next week will be spent in Cinque Terre, five small villages along the coast.

Our base camp, which is a small flat, is in the southern most village, Riomaggiore. When we get back, I will know exactly how to pronounce that. Here is a picture of Riomaggiore:

We'll be back on April 13th. There will be a lot of pictures. If we run into the internet, we'll throw a quick post up. Otherwise have a happy Easter, and we'll see you when we get back.

car crush

2010-03-23T10:54:00.000Z

Last week I saw this car *swoon* parked outside the art store and I stopped to take pictures of it because it was love at first sight. I felt stupid when I saw the stylish people who had been art-supply-shopping with me get into the car. Surely they had seen me through the store windows drooling over their ride.

As if I hadn't appeared creepy enough, on Sunday night we went "Crusin' Cambridgeshire" with Peter and Jill, who still had a rental car from their trip to Scotland. We were just cruising random little villages around Cambridge when Peter drove into a small neighborhood of flats to turn around and THERE HE WAS! The car was parked in front of one of the flats! What are the chances? Of course, I'm not SURE it was exactly the same car but how many baby blue Figaros can there be in the area? I felt like a bit of a stalker, but how could I have known? I think it was serendipity.

precipitation

2010-03-22T12:22:00.001Z

If ever there is precipitation of any sort, all the English emerge donning their "wellies." Whether spitty, splashy, sleety, snowy, or soggy the wellington is the proper footwear for the job.

surprise

2010-03-21T19:59:00.022Z

Philly, Dee and I planned a surprise baby shower for Jill recently. I lured her to the train station under the false assumption that she would be waiting with me for my friend from France (who was "visiting for the weekend") and then coming out for tea with us. We had everyone waiting inside the station when we arrived and she was really surprised!

We hopped the train to Ely (a nearby town, oddly baring the same name as the town where Jill was born in Minnesota), where we had afternoon tea at The Old Fire Engine House, a quaint tea shop and art gallery. We had a nice group of friends from various countries many of whom had never been to a baby shower before, and Jill got lots of nice presents to help her prepare for the baby's arrival! We had a really fun time. And now we wait.

Soyeon knit these booties for the baby in about 3 days!

Group shot.

Swinging in the garden out back.

39 & 40 of 51

2010-03-19T23:50:00.002Z

Within the 1/2 mile of bike trail on our ride home tonight from our weekly pot luck, we counted 51 toads and frogs. Meet numbers 39 and 40.

Not at all camera shy, 40 was more patient with me taking pictures than I usually am with Andrea. Of course, I have important things to do while toads can apparently loiter away their entire Friday night on a bike trail. I'm sure they were up to no good, that's why 39 is standing against the wall (curb) like he is being punished. English toad parents just can't control their kids anymore. And mixing with frogs? I'm not even going to get into that. Anyway, here are some theories to explain why there would be so many amphibians on our path:

1) It rained this evening. When rain falls on pavement, it grows worms. Frogs eat worms. I'll leave the inference to you.

2) It is Spring, and in the Spring some animals get... frisky. Somewhere in the mid-thirties two of the toads gave evidence for this theory.

3) One of the college film societies was showing The Princess and the Frog. The toads tried to go, but couldn't find it because of England's bad road signs.

4) This is the scariest theory. The bike trail passes some of the Cambridge laboratories. Maybe evil scientists were attracting them to use them in an evil plot. At first I suspected head mounted lasers, but then I remembered something like this has happened before...

reason #12c the dahms don't belong at cambridge

2010-03-16T11:31:00.007Z

Ok, this story is really about why ANDREA doesn't belong at Cambridge, but lets be honest, neither of us really do.

Recently, I have become the photographer for the CU visiting scholars (NVS) group! That's the happy part not the embarrassing part(s).

So, I was invited last Friday to a volunteer's tea at the Master's Lodge at Corpus Christi College, by the Master's wife who is the new Chairmen of our group.

Sitting Room of the Master's Lodge, looking into the garden.

The Masters of the Colleges at Cambridge University are like the Presidents of Colleges in the U.S. They are very prestigious positions usually held by Lords, past British ambassadors, dignitaries and diplomats after they retire. The Masters and their wives always live in the College usually in very fancy houses.

This NVS tea was like a meeting/social time just for the people who work or volunteer for the group. I was invited because I am now "in the fold" as they told me. I was really excited to go, to see the Master's Lodge and get to know more of the people involved. I was given vague instructions as to how to find the Master's Lodge and decided that I would just ask more specifically when I arrived. We have been told in the past that it's better to arrive fashionably late than very early for events especially at Master's Lodges, so I was running just about right on time when I arrived at the College. I stopped at the Porter's Lodge to inquire about finding the Master's Lodge. The porter asked me if I had an appointment with the Master. I told him that I was having tea with Sibella and the NVS. That seemed to suffice and he told me to walk across the first courtyard, past the Chapel, through the iron gate, up the footpath and when the path splits to go left and I would find the Master's Lodge where I should just ring the bell.

I walked hurriedly as I was now about 5 minutes late and was doing well until I came to the footpath that never split, but instead wound around the outside of another large courtyard. I went left at my first opportunity but all I saw were doors with letters above them and nothing that looked right. I was starting to get pretty anxious when a student passed me and I asked him where I could find the Lodge. He told me that it was back where I had just been and to the RIGHT not LEFT. I hurried along and opened the gate and proceeded to the front door where I rang the bell.

I thought things were a bit strange because the lights inside seemed to be off, there was no one to be seen and there were no shoes near the door. I started to wonder if I had gotten the wrong day or time. I waited for what felt like ages until a harried looking woman in jeans and socks came to the door and confusedly asked me,"ummm, are you here to see the Master?"

Stammering I said something about how I was there to see Sibella and for the NVS tea. "Oh!" she said "...you have the wrong college!"

In a bit of shock I blurted the question, "Oh! What college IS this?"
"Pembroke" she said. "You're looking for Corpus Christi, the next college over." Laughing a bit as she said it.

Thankfully she was very nice and understanding about it as we laughed and I apologized vehemently! Now I was REALLY late for my tea and I had to run over to Corpus on foot as my bike was parked far away.

When I arrived at Corpus I saw the door to the Master's Lodge open with people still streaming in and I was SO relieved. I confessed to a couple of my friends about my mishap and they just laughed and said that happens to everyone, but I'm pretty sure it would just happen to me. As I was finally starting to relax a bit I realized that EVERYONE else was wearing a skirt or black pants and I was wearing my dark (very dressy I thought) jeans and I became embarrassed a second time. My friend assured me that they were dressy enough and that because I'm the "young photographer" I'm allowed to dress in a more relaxed fashion. I began to relax again when I noticed that the entire floor was covered white carpet and expensive-looking oriental rugs and that no one was taking off their shoes. I hadn't noticed before but when I looked down at my boots I realized that (though they were clean on the bottom) there was still some mud and grass stuck to the kitten heels from when I was flower frolicking a few days before! Mortified, I asked where I could find the loo and, stepping only on the rugs, went in and quickly washed off my boots attempting to leave no grass or mud behind me! By then I was sure there was no way I would ever fit in at Cambridge, but the ladies were all very warm welcoming and kind to me anyway. :)

After laughing at myself and telling the story to Brandon and our friends here I was finally beginning to recover some of my self-esteem. When, on Tuesday as I arrived at our NVS tea Sibella herself came up to me and said something like, "So, I hear you had a visit to my neighbor on Friday!" I laughed trying to hide my mortification and said "Oh, I was really hoping you would never find out about that!" She laughed and said that the Master's wives all know each other and have weekly "wives of the masters" meetings where the MW at Pembroke had told her of my visit and how she had come to the door in jeans and socks wondering what was going on! I said that I really hoped I hadn't disturbed her but she assured me that it was fine, laughing.

I may give up eventually, but for the time being I find the whole situation to be very humorous.

magazine magazine

2010-03-15T16:11:00.001Z

Anyone for the new issue of Magazine?

london-friend day

2010-03-12T16:42:00.001Z

A few weekends ago we took a day trip to London to visit two of our dear friends who are both studying there this year. Gretchen, a friend from Brandon's hometown and Roland, a friend from SES. I don't think it's too late to give a little outline of our trip:

We explored one of the less-tourist-trodden areas of London - Camden Town. Maybe there aren't less tourists - there were gazillions of people, maybe it's just less well known. Or maybe I just didn't know about it. :) Here there are lots of "eccentric" people and a market that is miles around. Much of the market is in old brick horse tunnels and catacombs. It was Brandon's birthday weekend as well and as his special treat he wanted to eat "American" Chinese food. We really miss that stuff.

Gretchen took us to a very old-world wine bar that is basically in a cellar. It was very damp dingy and drippy down there but it made for the perfect ambiance!

Next we took in some of the beautiful London night-sights and Brandon smoked his new pipe by the Thames.

We ate some pizza and then hopped the bus home. It was an action packed day and was such great fun to see them both.

flower frolics

2010-03-08T10:04:00.001Z

The sun is timidly returning and new life is popping up all about Cambridge! Brandon and I went out the other day to wallow in the warmth, to frolic in the flowers and to summon the springtime.

new baby

2010-03-06T10:11:00.006Z

No, not that kind ... sorry. But now that I've got your attention I would like to formally announce the arrival of our new DSLR! Thank you MOM and DAD for replacing our kidnapped camera! I am sooo thrilled to have a new one!

:: commence documentation::

From a + b at cambridge

english to english: fringe

2010-02-28T00:18:00.007Z

Whilst talking with my English friend Issy the other day we hit a bit of a communication speed bump when I mentioned once cutting my bangs. It was then that I learned the British call bangs a FRINGE. At first I thought it was really funny but after thinking about it for a minute realized it was a MUCH more accurate name. [ see Exhibit A ]

[ Exhibit A ]

Right?

Then I began to wonder for the first time why the heck we call them BANGS in the US. I had never realized what a random name it was. So, I did some research on the etymology of the word and I learned that there are a couple of different reasons:

1. the term may have been adapted from the concept hair ending ubruptly or being "cut bang off."

2. beginning in the 1800s the hair style for humans was influenced by and named after "bang-tailed" horses whose tails are trimmed straight across.

Well, there you have it. But even after this new enlightenment, I continue to giggle to myself whenever I call bangs a FRINGE. And I can't help picturing this:

Summa Project Commemorative Pipe

2010-02-23T16:54:00.000Z

Almost since we arrived I have been thinking of different ways of remembering our time here. It is a strange thing to do, planning to remember. I have considered getting a decanter, pocket watch or cufflinks with Cambridge's crest on them. Although these are all still options, a couple of weeks ago I was given something that very fittingly represents our time here - a pipe. This is not just any pipe, it is a handmade Swanson. Don't recognize the pipe-maker? He is new to the craft, but his work thus far is promising. Others might know him as my friend from college. Peter made four pipes, one for the three students from SES who are here and one for the professor. Here are some pictures of the pipes and the first smoke.

The bowl of the pipes is maple, the stem is oak and the tip is deer antler. Here is a picture from this weekend, the pipe's first trip outside of Cambridge.

valentimes

2010-02-19T23:52:00.004Z

I ruined Brandon's dream Valentines day of attending the oh-so-romantic movie ZOMBIELAND, by getting a cold. So I painted this for him and totally made up for it...or maybe not... but he was very understanding and he got me these beautiful tulips that are a touch of springtime.

cycling escapades.

2010-02-15T10:29:00.001Z

Humorous happenings with our primary mode of transportation:

Both of our bikes have accumulated their share of squeaks, creaks, and rattles over the last few months. In first gear (which I now always have to ride in because of second gear dropping out) my bike sounds like a flock of shrilly tweeting birds, and Brandon's makes a difficult to describe, but equally awful, sound. Unfortunately, his wasn't in full swing when the following video was made. If you listen carefully you can also hear my bell which dings any time I go over a bump. This video was taken on the footpath to our flat, you can see the countryside beginning in the background. It was a windy day, which masks the sound a bit (and you're lucky for that). Sometimes it is just us and a stranger on a quiet path - it can be embarrassing.

A while ago my bike started violently dropping out of gear when in second resulting, more than once, in my shoe flying off and my having to hop back to get it! Looking extremely suave, as you could imagine.

I almost hit a pigeon and Brandon almost ran over a squirrel. I guess road kill is a problem even when cycling.

curd bird

2010-02-12T15:58:00.004Z

Whilst at tea with Jill, Philly and knitting-instructor-Janet, my lemon curd plopped down in the shape of a bird!

education

2010-02-11T22:16:00.006Z

the four seasons

2010-02-10T09:16:00.004Z

Four Seasons - Alphonse Mucha

Brandon and I started yesterday morning off with Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, focusing especially on Spring (perhaps hoping that we could coax it into fully appearing). Brandon's musical selection turned out to be more prophetic than I could've imagined.

We had bright SUNSHINE all day ... but then we also had hail ... at the same time.

Jill and I were at a baker's stand at the market when it started to hail tiny pellets. We observed that it was strange for it to be hailing while sunny and he said "I'm not surprised. This is ENGLAND! You can have all four seasons in one day!" At which point he began belting out Vivaldi's Four Seasons exactly where we had been listening to it that morning. He continued humming as we walked away.

It only lasted about 5 minutes and afterwards the sun felt so warm on my face. OH, how I've missed that feeling.

capturing cambridge

2010-02-06T17:54:00.007Z

I've started a new series of paintings in an attempt to represent

{our} life in Cambridge. (click to enlarge)

transportation

communication

caffination

dear sun, we miss you.

2010-02-04T09:08:00.000Z

Not too long before we left Charlotte I cleaned windows for a family who had recently moved to the US from England. The son, who was probably about 10, followed me around and helped me a lot of the day and talked to me. When I told him we were moving here he said we would hate the weather because of the lack of sunshine. Well, we don't hate the weather, but last week I realized how much I miss the sun. I left for class about half-three and was struck by how warm and beautiful sunlight is when I reached our footpath. The sun was low which gave the light a very substantial and almost glowing effect. The last few days have been fairly grey, so yesterday I checked the forecast to see when the sun will return. This is the dismal image I found,

From Untitled Album

burns and bagpipes

2010-02-03T17:48:00.004Z

Last monday was the birthday of Scotish poet Robert Burns. He is another somewhat random-seeming historical figure that has a holiday here in England. On his birthday (called Burns Night) many families celebrate with a dinner of traditional Scotish whiskey and haggis (wiki says: Haggis is a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours.) Doesn't that sound DIVINE?

To celebrate, the Visiting Scholars group taught us about Robert Burns and brought in a bagpiper and haggis to sample. Robert Burns wrote many love poems and also addressed many of his poems to more nontraditional recipients like a mouse or a haggis. You will probably recognize an excerpt from the poem he wrote to a mouse whose nest he accidentally destroyed, "The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley," which inspired Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men."

They read (in genuine Scotish dialect (in which they were written) and accent) the "Address to a Haggis" before we partook. We were assured that it would just taste like sausage so Jill and I gave it a try. It really wasn't that bad. It did taste like a sausage with herbs and a slightly off-putting aftertaste.

The piper played quite a few traditional songs including Auld Lang Syne, also written by Burns. He told us that the bagpipes don't have any happy mediums and that you're either LISTENING TO THEM or you're not. He wasn't kidding. With just one piper in the large room filled with people the music was still extremely loud. Afterwards, I was asking him about how you play and he offered to let me try. I pretty much couldn't get any air to go through them at all so he took over the blowing, and had me try to play the notes. He asked me if I had played the recorder and said it was very similar. I don't think the week of recorder I played in third grade got me very far, what do you think? It was embarrassing enough that it sounded like screeches from a dying animal when I played but it was also so stinking loud that it probably hurt everyone's ears, and definitely drew their attention!

Here is a video Jill took of my horrible attempt. Seriously, if you're going to try and watch this make sure the sound on your computer is down as low as it goes before you press play. :)

is that person a genius?

2010-01-31T19:00:00.001Z

One of the first changes that happened to my internal monologue after moving here is how I think about strangers. Walking, biking or eating around Cambridge one suspects the person next to them is a genius. The backstories you imagine for strangers from superficial clues are constructed on the assumption that the person beside you is likely among the world's best and brightest. This makes for fun imaginings and is kindled by confirmations here and there - overhearing a conversation in a cafe of how to structure a new multi-million dollar climate change institute, the man selling you your used bike being a Cambridge graduate who left the corporate world for a simpler life, a friendly gentleman with an incredible beard making a casual joke about the Victorian mindset that you don't understand at all. These were all nice confirmations that I am surrounded by geniuses, but my favorite happened while biking about a month ago.

Let me preface the image by saying that I have been working on my hands-free biking skills. Growing up on hilly, curvy gravel roads and never having an abundance of coordination, biking with no hands was not a skill I ever possessed. Couple that with not riding a bike for about a decade (and no I can't believe I'm old enough to make decade statements like that), learning to ride with no hands was an ambitious and risky undertaking. Since you are shirley wondering, I am now quite accomplished at riding with no hands when no one is watching. I've even been able to make a 90 degree turn once or twice. Back to the point, as I was biking to class I noticed someone biking the other way with no hands. As he came closer, I saw that although he wasn't using his hands to steer, his hands were occupied... by a rubik's cube.

From Untitled Album

the paula/jeff/paul visit: london edition

2010-01-30T17:39:00.000Z

Tibits and snapshots from our adventures in London:

- Oddly we began our time in London with a very French theme. We stayed at a terrace house hotel which once housed escaped French Aristocrats during the French Revolution. We ate lunch at a French patisserie and ate dinner at a French Bistro in honor of the French show, Les Miserables that we went to our first night in town.

- My Dad's favorite part of the trip was seeing Les Miserables at the Queens Theatre in Piccadilly Circus. It was simply AMAZING and is the longest running show in London. After seeing that show Dad decided we needed to go to one every night! We agreed.

- One of the many luxuries of traveling with my Mom and Dad in the winter was that we took London taxis around quite a bit of the time. It was so quick and convenient but also charming and fun! One taxi driver told us that there are around 22,000 taxis in London! Those guys really knew their way around. The only challenge they had was understanding which street our hotel was on, as it took us the entire three days to master the proper English pronunciation for Gloucester Place. It is pronounced "Glouhstuh Plahce".

- Buckingham Palace. One of the taxi drivers told us that you can tell when the Queen is at home by the flag that is flying. When the Union Jack is up she is away, and when the Royal Coat of Arms is flying she is at home. She was not at home. We had wanted to see the changing of the guard but it was cancelled "because of the snow." Do you SEE how much snow is on the ground in this picture? What's that you say? You don't really see ANY snow? Exactly. We discovered that if you want to conquer England you just have to wait until there is a light snowy dusting and the whole country will be paralyzed.

- At Harry Potter's Platform 9 3/4, and Paul and I in the tube.

- Paul at the Tower of London, not to be confused with the Tower Bridge (second photo), not to be confused with the London Bridge. I was confused.

- Paul and I with a sentry from the Queen's Guard. Yes, their coats WERE almost exactly the same grey-purple color as mine. What are the chances!? I think it's because it's a royal hue. :)

- The British Museum was enormous and full of many of the world's most exquisite artifacts. We saw the Rosetta Stone, Egyptian mummies and hieroglyphics from nearly 3,000 BC, sunken treasure, and one of the heads from Easter Island. We lost Brandon in the labyrinth, so we split up into 3 search parties and finally located him somewhere in ancient Italy, quite enjoying himself. Not sure he had even realized we were gone. :)

- St. Paul's Cathedral at night. Wedding venue of Princess Diana and Prince Charles. Please note the bride and groom standing on the stairs. I think they hire them to stand there all the time because it's just so fitting. We went to Evensong which was said instead of sung because, again, "the choir couldn't make it because of the snow." We never saw this scary snow.

- Not surprisingly social-butterfly-Paul ran into a group of friends from Bethel University at St. Pauls Cathedral! He has been known for knowing someone everywhere we've gone since our family vacations as kids, so it was especially funny that it happened to him again! He knows everyone.

- Dad and I had lots of fun looking at sweet famous art together at the National Gallery.

- Westminster Abbey, where the kings and queens of England have been crowned since 1066. A ton of famous people are also buried inside and the whole place is covered and filled with effigies, monuments, memorials, and tombs. Some graves we saw were those of Sir Isaac Newton, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens (who was buried there against his will).

- Mom and I took it upon ourselves to christen the first European Anthropologie store, three times! It is three glorious levels of prettiness and visual over-stimulation!

- We went to WICKED at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. The costumes were all like intricate pieces of art-candy and I was visually overwhelmed yet again.

- Trafalgar Square from the National Gallery looking towards Big Ben.

- Market shopping.

- We finished off our time together and our Piccadilly show tour at Her Majesty's Theatre with the classic Phantom of the Opera! Of course, it was AMAZING! But not as amazing as our time with my family. Thanks for coming to visit! We miss you already.

If it's possible that anyone could be interested in MORE pictures from my family's visit there are bazillion here. Thanks for tuning in!

the paula/jeff/paul visit: cambridge edition

2010-01-25T12:50:00.000Z

We had an AWESOME time with my parents Paula and Jeff and my youngest brother Paul when they spent 8(ish) days with us at the beginning of January! They certainly quenched my homesickness (and made it worse when they left) and made our English winter warmer! We did so much that it's hard to know where to begin telling about it. I think I will use less words and more images (since they're worth thousands, of course).

Here are some of the highlights of our time in Cambridge:

- We wasted no time ringing in the New Year English-style by going to a pub the first night and having a pint with fish and chips! My mom loved them so much she ordered them at nearly every meal thereafter and regretted it whenever she did not.

- Mom's favorite Cambridge event was punting on the River Cam! We had a tour guide named Leaf who imparted on us much Cambridge wisdom as we floated along. They wouldn't let us take our own punt out because of liability issues with the COLD water. Here we are in front of the Bridge of Sighs at St. John's College.

- We explored around Cambridge visiting many of the historic colleges, churches and sites:

- Mom and Dad at Trinity College in front of a Sir Isaac Newton's dorm window and a descendant of his apple tree.

- On the Bridge of Sighs at St. John's College.

- We visited King's College Chapel, where even my Dad and Paul felt short. Why it's called a "chapel" I do not understand.

- Actually even at 6' 5" my dad felt short quite often over here.

- Paul made friends with a grey swan and named him Peter, Peter Swanson (hehe ya know because he's a swan?!) not remembering that Peter Swanson is the name of one of the few friends who live here with us in Cambridge. :)

- After passing the exquisite men's clothing store, Ede and Ravenscroft, many times and seeing a dapper jacket in the window, my dad decided to try it on. After about 3 minutes, and because it was on sale, he decided to buy it! Owning a jacket from one of the oldest shops (London's oldest tailor and robe maker, est. 1689) and robe maker to the Queen was really the perfect Dad-souvenir! Now isn't that a smart jacket?

- Paul attempted to get back to our Scottish "Fordice" roots by becoming the owner of a kilt and bagpipes. They didn't have the Fordyce tartan in Cambridge, however, and we could only locate one set of of bagpipes which were rather obnoxious looking, even for Paul. We decided he will just have to come back and we will trek to Scotland to fulfill his dream in the homeland. We might as well buy the Fordyce Castle while we're at it, it's a real steal at £800,000, and well worth it as I just discovered that the castle comes with a barony title, entitling the owner to call himself the Baron of Fordyce! (photo: flickr)

- We practiced our bravery by trying BLOOD PUDDING! I promised myself I would try all the food once, and this has been looming. My dad was the brave soul who ordered it. We all partook in unison and no one went back for seconds. The flavor wasn't as disgusting as I thought it would be but just knowing that it was a curdled blood cake made it almost impossible to swallow. (My mom observed the insanity at a safe distance).

- We split up for guys/girls fun day. My mom and I went shopping, out for pastys, and to 4 o'clock tea, Brandon studied (really, he does think that is fun but he also had to), and my Dad and Paul hopped a bus to Duxford to visit the Imperial War Museum (the largest collection of historic aircraft in Europe).

- While we were at the market my mom had to stop walking suddenly to avoid kicking a pigeon. I found it quite humorous.

- We attended Sunday High Mass at our church Little St. Mary's, one of the oldest churches in Cambridge and chapel to the first college Peterhouse. Everyone loved the liturgy, bells and whistles.

- We got to have our own little FAMILY Christmas celebration, the perfect way to finish off the holiday season.

- My Mom and Dad brought over TONS of AMERICAN goodies for us from Brandon's mom, Caryn, and from them. It is wonderful to have some of the treats we missed like mac 'n cheese, cornbread, oreos, sour patch kids, CHOCOLATE CHIPS and RANCH DRESSING! THANK YOU!!! It may or may not almost be gone already.

Is there a limit to how long posts can be? If there is I must be nearing it, so I will end this Cambridge edition and start preparing a post about our adventures in London! Don't worry that one should be shorter, but no promises.

status update

2010-01-24T20:56:00.000Z

We are now a week into our second term, and I thought a quick status report would be helpful. As you know, we are reading Aquinas's Summa Theologiae cover-to-cover over the course of this year. The edition I am reading is split into five volumes, and we are just about to finish the second. Well, to be precise, we are scheduled to finish the second volume next week, but I'm a bit behind. I'll explain why in a bit. The first volume discusses the nature of God, the Trinity, creation, man and angels. The second volume covers human acts in general - the nature of happiness, right and wrong, virtue and vice, decision making and emotions, and law and grace. All that in the first two volumes!

So that is what we are reading. When we meet in seminar - Tuesday, Friday and sometimes Wednesday - we are moving at a slightly slower pace. The Summa is divided into questions (topical sections). We have read through about 200 questions, and in seminar we are still working on the fifth question. Of course we all knew we wouldn't get to cover everything in discussion, there is just too much. The quality of the seminars (the more important aspect) has been outstanding. The professor leading the seminar lectures and leads the discussion. He has forced us to really grapple with Aquinas's claims, not only to understand what it is Aquinas says, but to make it our own. This has been a challenging and rewarding process.

Finally, last term I decided to apply to a Masters in theology program here at Cambridge. Putting the application together required a lot of work (which is why I got behind in reading over break), the most painful part being the GRE (Graduate Record Exam). This is a standardized test that operates for graduate students the way the ACT or SAT do for undergraduates. I took the exam on Dec 30th and did fine, so now we are just waiting to hear back from Cambridge. The program I applied to is an MPhil in Theology and Religious Studies. I would be taking the philosophy of religion course. Hopefully we know something in the next month or so.

our rucksack got nicked whilst in london

2010-01-21T18:15:00.000Z

While visiting London with my parents and brother Paul (more about their visit in the next post) we stopped for lunch at a pub near the Tower of London (read: tourist area). We had a large group (including an Aussie we met on the tube who spent the day with us), and as we were distracted with our feasting and pleasantries some guys walked by and swiped our bag as it was sitting at the end of the table. No one noticed a thing until we got up to leave and the bag was nowhere to be found. I was frozen in complete shock that it could be gone. Frustratingly, there were signs all over the pub saying such helpful things as: "Is your bag safe?" or "Where are your belongings?" and so on. I had even read them and thought about how they were a good idea and how I knew where my belongings were.

The scene of the crime! Please note the sign on the pole to the right. (click to enlarge)

I guess living in safe quaint little Cambridge has made me more relaxed than I once was walking through the streets of Paris with a money belt under my shirt and my backpack on the front. We had to laugh at ourselves as we felt like little country folk in the BIG CITY. "oooo this city be real purty and gots real bigs buildins!" It turns out ours was the 92nd crime committed in London in 2010, only one week into the year.

The backpack contained my nice digital SLR camera, wallet, credit cards, cash, check book and our external hard drive with all our files and pictures backed up on it. If it weren't for Flickr all my England photos would be gone! I love Flickr.

We spent nearly the entire afternoon cleaning up the mess, reporting it to the Police, calling and canceling my cards &c. It turns out that both of my credit cards were used to buy train tickets about half an hour after they were stolen. Luckily, the whole scene was captured on the pub's security camera!

This weekend we got a call from P.C. Whicby (awesomely English name, right?), the officer working our case. He told us that they had ARRESTED the guy who stole our bag, and he has been in jail since Saturday!! They had suspected him of other thefts and got his fingerprints from a beer mug at another pub. With the circulation of the video footage from our case and the fingerprints they were able to find and arrest him! None of our belongings were recovered. They also discovered that he is an illegal alien and have served him deportation papers. It's bittersweet because if he is deported they won't be able to try him for the crimes he committed in the UK.

We are just happy that he is off the streets and hope he will get his
just deserts.

a cambridge christmas

2010-01-17T12:19:00.000Z

We had a nice Cambridge Christmas this year, but hope it will be our first and last Christmas away from home.

We started out the festivities with a Summa Group Christmas feast and game night. It was a really fun and relaxing evening with friends.

Christmas Eve we went to a candlelight service at church and met our friend Dave's family (who were visiting from New York). They invited us out for dinner and we went along. They were so fun and it was really nice to spend time with a family, Christmas really isn't the same without it! We went back for a midnight mass after dinner and drinks. At about 2:45 am we skyped with my family because that was the only time we could see them all together.

Christmas Day we skyped with Brandon's dad and family and got to watch them open presents for a while which was really nice. Afterwards we went over to the home of a woman named Joy, who has grown up in England and lived here her whole life. She takes in international students and shows them a traditional English Christmas. The food was very similar to ours but included things like bread sauce, parsnips, and lots of desserts containing fruit soaked in brandy and covered in brandy creme sauce. The English have about 4 desserts made from this - christmas pudding (which can either be a cake or just the fruit in a bowl), christmas cake (baked several different ways), and mince pies to name a few. After a big Christmas lunch the tradition is to watch the Queen who gives a yearly Christmas address on the tele. After a few hours of relaxing and watching movies we had a cold supper with salmon sent from Scotland. We didn't get home until about 9:30 at night so it was a really long but enjoyable day. When we got home we skyped with Brandon's mom and family.

We found that family Christmas isn't quite the same when attended via satellite, but we were thankful to be able to see everyone and for the friends and families we were able to spend our English holiday with.

white christmas.

2009-12-23T12:47:00.000Z

Last thursday we got our first snow! We had heard from many people that we wouldn't see snow here but maybe twice all winter and only then an inch or so. I guess it arrived early this year and was a welcome addition to the holiday season! A blanket of snow looks wonderful on this city.

It had been flirting with the idea of snowing all day - first it was raining, then sleeting, then turned to tiny flakes, then back to sleet, then into giant flakes, then back to small flakes again all melting instantly on the ground. By about 9pm, however, it was coming down fast and heavy. Then the wind joined in. We were on our way back from a movie when it got worse and had to bike home in it. It was awful - my legs were sore from biking into the wind (and because I'm STILL in horrible shape) and my body was sweating while my face was freezing, my eyes were watering and I was getting pelted with tiny ice bullets! We finally made it home and sat in the dark by the tree listening to Christmas Carols and watching the storm rage outside. It was so cozy! The storm slowed way down around 11 and Brandon introduced the idea of walking to city centre through the snow and taking pictures. We both hesitated because we were so warm, but finally decided we would regret it if we didn't go. We are so glad we did! We put plastic bags around our feet, bundled up and walked through the lightly falling snow into town. We nearly had the entire town to ourselves, it was so wonderful! To see the pictures we took that night and the next morning see our album "Yule Tide" here.

We got about 4 inches of snow total and it is still on the ground. The custodian at our flat told me they haven't had a white Christmas in Cambridge in 30 YEARS!!! I am so happy that we are here to enjoy it.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas

2009-12-15T10:07:00.000Z

The Christmas season is in full bloom here in the UK. They don't have Thanksgiving standing in the way of hanging lights and playing Christmas Carols. (Not that people really let it stop them in the US either). Cambridge is beautiful in the winter! So far we have had heavenly weather in the mid- 30s and 40s and a couple of beautiful fog "storms" which I have decided will be a very nice alternative to blizzards this winter. It is so mild here, but also wet wet wet. Everything outside is always damp.

A Cambridge "blizzard" of fog. (more fog photos)

In preparation for the season we bought a cheapo little Christmas tree at ASDA the UK's Walmart, and I picked up some ornaments and decorations at a local charity shop for nearly nothing. I also picked some holly from right outside our building. :) We spent an evening listening to Christmas Carols and trimming the tree. And I have been listening to them a lot since.

Brandon also surprised me by getting free tickets to the Advent Procession at King's College Chapel, right after Thanksgiving. It was so beautiful. The choir and ceremony moved from East to West through the chapel to represent the coming of Christ! That was the first time I had ever heard the chanting of the seven great "O Antiphons" of Advent. The "O Antiphons" are ancient chants (thought to be from the beginning of the sixth century) each addressing Christ with one of his scriptural titles, and then inviting him to come and help his people. One Antiphon is the basis of our popular song "O come, O come Emmanuel," one of my favorites!

"O come, O come Emmanuel. Redeem thy captive Israel. Who ache in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appears. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. "

Last night we went to the pub "The Eagle" to hear the King's College choir sing Christmas carols. They have a concert this Thursday but it is £10-£20 for tickets and they told us they were basically doing all the same songs for us! It was the first "cold" day we've had here at a brisk 32 degrees, and this was the day we chose for sitting outside on the pub terrace for over two hours. I considered this to be the next phase in my "cold weather training" (thanks Dan!).

still giving thanks

2009-12-14T20:05:00.000Z

So, I probably missed the gap for posting about Thanksgiving and everyone has moved on to Christmas, but I'm going to do it anyway.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving here in Cambridge with our American friends from the Summa Group. The food was amazing and we ate lots of it! Preparing traditional American dishes while in the UK was a bit of a challenge. They didn't have a lot of the ingredients I needed and I had to improvise. After a year of improvising on recipes and cooking in a kitchen with hardly any supplies I think I am going to be a very resourceful chef. I ended up buying a whole pumpkin for use in my pumpkin/pecan pie and making homemade creamed corn and corn syrup. I also found out that you CANNOT buy cornmeal over here. We midwesterners really need to share our corn products with the rest of the world! I am proud to say, however, that I found and served GREEN GIANT canned corn in the corn pudding that I made!

Transporting one pan of corn pudding, one pumpkin/pecan pie, and one peach/raspberry pie to over a mile to your Thanksgiving feast using only a bicycle was very interesting, but we made it safely.

After hours of eating and chatting Brandon and the other men played FOOTBALL in the front yard/street. Shocking, I know.

Brandon and I had to take off early to catch a movie that we had bought tickets for way in advance not realizing it was on Thanksgiving day. It was put on by St. John's College film club. We left with plenty of time and biked over to St. John's. Brandon had been joking that this would be the first time I would feel what it's like to be early for something. When we got to the room the movies are in, no one was there. We were really confused and didn't know if we had the correct time or location so we started wandering around St. John's to see if we could find some information about it. As we walked around the College at night we felt like we were in a castle or at Hogwarts! It was so beautiful and enchanting and we kept discovering more beautiful sights around each corner. As we were walking through a corridor the walkway became very narrow and sloped up and we suddenly realized we were IN THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS! It was beautiful. We finally found a brochure about the movie and found out that we were TWO HOURS EARLY! Turns out, I don't like the feeling of being early.

St. John's College at night

Inside the Bridge of Sighs

View from the Bridge of Sighs

We celebrated Thanksgiving two more times over the weekend. On Saturday we were invited to the home of some friends we met through an old family friend of mine who was studying here last year, and on Sunday we went to a large "ExPat" party with some friends we met through the Visiting Scholars network. The Sunday shin-dig was complete with a ho-down -- a guitar and fiddle, a sing-along and dancing!

We are both so unbelievably thankful to God for His blessings, for our families and friends that make being away so difficult, but also for this opportunity He has given us.

I googled myself today...

2009-12-14T13:36:00.000Z

Every now and then I google myself out of curiosity. Today I found this:

http://www.winst.org/ethics_and_university/cambridge_scholars.php

I'll be writing an end of term update soon.

sightings of the queen!

2009-11-20T12:14:00.000Z

We got word that the Queen would be in town yesterday to celebrate the 800th Anniversary of Cambridge University, and I really wanted to see her! I searched online and asked around and there was nearly no information to be had about what would be happening or when (I think by design). I just knew she was to have lunch at Kings College.

After knitting group and lunch I quickly made my way into town to see what was going on. There were fences set up along Kings Parade and I saw her car parked in front of Kings College - with a crowd in front of it. I hurried over and asked a Policeman what would be happening. He said she would be coming out in about an hour, walking to her car, and driving the block down to The Senate House where she would get out and give a speech to a private party. The crowd was already 5-7 people deep right in front of her car but I had a spot to the side RIGHT against the fence, so I decided it would be worth it to just wait it out. I called Brandon and Jill to let everyone know what was going on, and then I waited...and waited.

I was so glad I did because the crowd filled in quickly behind me, and a few people were pressing in and trying to steal my spot. Jill met up with me and we met a nice American girl from California and a woman from Spain, and also saw a few of our friends go by while we waited.

Then at about 2:45 out she came! I was kind of embarrassed about how excited I was. It was so cool to see the Queen of England in real life! She was so little and cute wearing her bright peach coat and hat with feathers! I snapped tons of pictures but also made sure to take in the action with my own eyes. She drove one block, stopped and got out again.

As we (Brandon and I, Peter and Jill) were standing there chattering with excitement about how we had just seen the Queen, Jill noticed that someone in a wheel chair was coming out of the door to Kings College and wondered if it was Stephen Hawking. The crowd had mostly dispersed and no one else was looking over at him so we thought it must not be. We mentioned that it didnt really look like him and not everyone in a wheel chair was Stephen Hawking. But then they crossed the street and went RIGHT past us on the sidewalk, and we saw that it definitely WAS him! We noticed one of the women we know from the Visiting Scholars group CHASING him down the street! That was our final confirmation.

As the guys headed to a used book shop, Jill and I decided to walk down and see if we could peek into the tents the Queen was now in. I remembered passing a gate in an alley that morning where I could see in from the back, so we went over. There was a policeman standing guard who was very nice and we talked to him for a bit. He said he didn't know if she would be passing that way again. A University Constable who was inside the gate wearing a top hat and black cape with gold clasps came over and talked to us. He talked a ton and told us about being a Constable, how the University works, and many other things. As we were chatting away Jills suddenly yelled "ANDREA ANDREA!!!" I looked over and there walking right by were the Queen and the Duke with his robes being carried behind him! They performed a ceremony where with some University Mail Service bikers, and then went into the tent. We continued to chat and try to see glimpses of the ceremony inside the tent for quite a while. Then the policeman told us she would be getting back into her car and leaving so we decided we might as well run around the front and see her off!

The crowd was enormous and we could barely see her, so after she got into her car we RAN down the sidewalk CHASING her slow-moving car and got in close again for some final photos and farewells. It was a very exciting day!

remember remember the fifth of november

2009-11-13T09:53:00.000Z

November 5th was Guy Fawkes Night a national bonfire and fireworks celebration in England. It's a very strange holiday in which they celebrate something that didn't happen. Guy Fawkes and other Catholic conspirators attempted to blow up the mostly Protestant House of Parliament to kill the Protestant King and Aristocracy (Protestant and Catholic) in 1605 by planting gunpowder in the cellars. The plot was discovered by an anonymous letter and they were all arrested. Guy Fawkes was hanged, drawn and quartered, and displayed in London.
They remember with this rhyme:

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot,
I see no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

The event is still celebrated to this day by burning an effigy of Guy Fawkes on the bonfire (creepy). These effigies were called "Guys" and that is where our word "guy" meaning "man" originated.

I don't understand why of all the things that occurred in Britain's history they choose to celebrate this non-event, but the fireworks were really good (they had a few new variations on the "sizzling" fireworks which are my favorite!) The bonfire was huge (over 20 feet?), and it was a good time.

a day at the sea.

2009-11-06T12:47:00.000Z

Last weekend we took a trip to the sea! Prof. D'Andrea had business in Switzerland so we had a long weekend and Peter and Jill proposed a trip to the sea, while it was still warm enough to enjoy the fact that we live on an ISLAND! We decided to do a day trip to save money and so Brandon could still get his studies done. After a long search of good locations on the railway we decided to rent a car instead because it was cheaper and we could reach the quaint little villages where the train doesn't take you.

We headed up to Norfolk to the villages of Cromer, Sheringham and Weybourne on the North Sea. The drive was beautiful especially with all the changing autumn leaves. It was strange to be driving on the left side but we only had to remind Peter twice that we should be there and not on the right side. :) We arrived in Cromer and squeezed our way through the narrow streets until we found a parking place. We walked through town stopping at an old bookshop and at a bakery to get lunch. We took our sandwiches down to the beach and enjoyed them while admiring the view! It was just how I had thought it would be at the coast, but even a little chillier than I had imagined. After taking a nice long relaxing stroll along the sandy beach we headed back to the car to warm up and drive on to the next town.

As we drove we saw little white houses covering a distant hill and thought they looked like the buildings in Greece. When we got closer we realized that it was an enormous trailer park! I guess they have those here too, and these people have prime real estate. We passed through Sheringham and on to Weybourne where we found a secluded beach area with beautiful clay cliffs. This beach was made up of small smooth rocks like the north shore of Lake Superior. The waves made an amazing sound as they flowed through the rock (watch a video of it here). Many of the rocks on the beach were chalk, so I took some home to use on our chalk boards. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring and relaxing.

When it got dark we drove back to Sheringham and had dinner at a pub that had a really cheap meal deal (buy one meal get the second for a pound!) Peter really wanted to build a bonfire on the beach after dinner, but we had no firewood and didn't know where to / didn't want to buy it. We decided that if we could find some firewood just by driving around we would have the fire, otherwise we would just head home. So we drove around through the dark English countryside looking for wooded areas. We finally found an area of trees and Peter pulled over into a dark long windy driveway (as there were no shoulders on the roads there.) He used the tiny flashlight on his cell phone to search through the woods for sticks, ducking or pretending to be looking at a map when other cars would drive by. He accumulated enough wood fairly quickly, and we drove back and he built a fire on the beach! It was such a fun day!

weekending.

2009-10-25T20:10:00.000Z

The last couple of weekends have been very nice here. Last weekend our friend Roland, who was at SES while we were there, visited us from London. He is working on a MPhil in Philosophy there, and took the bus to Cambridge for the day. When Roland got here we started by grabbing a pasty, which gave us strength for our long walk down to Grantchester.

From Untitled Album

Along the Cam in Grantchester is a tea house called The Orchard, where we joined the Swansons. It has a long history of famous Cambridgians- http://www.orchard-grantchester.com/history.html. After visiting one sees the draw. It is beautifully secluded, not just away from other things, but somehow apart from them. Here are a few pictures, although they don't quite capture it.

From Untitled Album

We asked for directions from a couple on our way down, they told us to take the scenic path by the Cam, but to be cautious of swordsmen. They weren't kidding:

From Untitled Album

The track down is beautiful and spotted with cows.

From Untitled Album

We had our first cream tea - delicious. Andrea will probably be posting something about it soon. (If you look up creamed tea on wikipedia, there is a picture of The Orchard.)

From Untitled Album

After tea, clearly we needed a pint. So we tried a pub in Grantchester.

From Untitled Album

After the pub we walked Roland to the bus stop and biked home, ending a very nice Saturday. Saturday was great, and nothing against Roland, but Sunday had Harry Potter. Somehow we didn't get around to seeing the sixth movie before we left. Lucky for us, a student film society was showing it last weekend. And here is where we watched it:

From Untitled Album

The movie itself was great. Although choppy at first, like most of them, it found its rhythm and really delivered. Although I do have a gripe with how they portrayed part of the ending, but I don't want to give anything away. I was inspired to re-read book seven by watching it.

reflections &c.

2009-10-25T15:55:00.000Z

:: I was at a charity shop recently looking for bowls (we had none) and trying to find more cheap english china when I caught a glimpse of this lovely antique fisheye mirror for only £5. I wasn't going to buy it because it is big and heavy and unnecessary and I was on my bike. Well, I found a set of really cheap bowls but I couldn't use my credit card unless I spent more than £5 so I HAD to buy something else to put me over (we still had no way of getting cash so it was the credit card or nothing). I spent over a half an hour trying to find something else in the shop that was small and useful but I couldnt find ANYTHING. So I had no choice but to buy the mirror! I told the guy that I had no idea how I was going to bike home with it, but that I would figure something out AND I DID! I used the belt from my sweater and tied it through the handles on a big reusable grocery shopping bag making a big loop, then hung it over my shoulder and biked home! Now the big wall in our flat isn't so barren - and I can keep an eye on brandon without his knowing it.

This situation reminded me of the time I fixed my car with the belt from a sweater. Sweaters are like duct tape apparently.

:: We FINALLY succeeded in transferring money from our US to British bank account this week! We have had a bit of trouble doing so, including having a check rejected and sent back to us with no explanation. For nearly a month now we have had no way of getting cash (except when Alissa and Jonathan took some out for us - thanks guys!) and every time we logged in to our British account online to see if the money had gone through we saw the word "NIL." That's right, it said NIL, how insulting is that?

:: In church today we sang the Mr. Bean "Alleluiah" song from the episode where he was in church! I could not help but crack up through most of it, especially near the end when the congregation actually messed up the Alleluiahs a lot like Mr. Bean did. :)

:: This week I learned how to knit.

I started going to a craft group for newcomers and visiting scholars with Jill and Philly on thursday mornings. A nice British woman is teaching us how to knit. I completely failed the first time, but this week I think I got it! I think I can say I learned how to knit.

why the dahms (that's right, both of us) should not be allowed in public, reasons #2 & #3

2009-10-14T22:41:00.000+01:00

See reason 2:

From Untitled Album

Yeah Brandon, Andrea is abnormally tall, but it seems harsh to say she shouldn't even go out in public. No, not that, look at her feet, in particular the trail of white. Yes, that is what you think it is. And yes, apparently this actually happens, at least once. Alissa and Jonathan were with us to experience this, and we all had a long laugh at with Andrea.

That evening the four of us went to a pub for dinner. This was my first go at fish and chips here. They were good, although I once had better in Nashville. Anyway, as we were leaving the bar filled up with what appeared to be a sorority rush. I had to squeeze my way through them on the way to the toilet and back, which involves walking up and down stairs at this particular pub. Standing up to leave, Andrea stops me and points down... to the toilet paper stuck to my foot. The embarrassment was undercut by how amazing it was that this happened to both of us, on the same day. Obviously I received my due after giving Anne such a hard time earlier. Unfortunately, the scene unfolded too fast for us to snap a picture. So here is an artist's rendition:

From Untitled Album

Cheers.

we had visitors.

2009-10-13T20:26:00.000+01:00

We had a wonderful time with Alissa and Jonathan last week! They made the perfect first vistors setting the standard for all of you who hope to follow in their footsteps. It was so good to see them and spend time together exploring Cambridge and chatting / catching up. They came through England as the GRAND FINALE (in our opinion) to their two week European adventure to Italy and Paris.

Some highlights from their visit include:

::PUNTING!::
We finally experienced the famed Cambridge past-time of punting on the River Cam. Punts are low flat-bottomed wooden boats which are operated using a long pole in shallow water (like the gondolas in Venice). We ended up self-hiring a punt instead of going on a guided tour because it was much much cheaper. We were really worried that punting would be harder than it seemed especially since we've seen many people from the shore that look to be frustratedly struggling to get the punt to do what they want it to (and more than one resulting collision). After a two minute verbal instruction, Brandon made the first attempt. He actually turned out to be really good! (do I sound too surprised?) We punted about half an hour down the Cam to the Bridge of Sighs where we switched so Jonathan could give it a try and bring us back within our one hour time limit. He had a bit of difficulty getting the hang of it, which resulted in our going in many circles and hitting the walls on each side of the river before we started heading in the right direction. Within about 5 minutes he had also re-engineered the current method of operating the punt by turning himself around instead of the boat. It made for a hilarious and memorable experience! He quickly mastered it, however, and had us back just minutes over an hour.

::EVENSONG::
We went to Evensong (evening mass) at King's College Chapel and heard the famous King's College Choir. It is chillingly amazing to hear their voices echo in the vastness of the majestic architecture. On saturdays they have a boys choir which is even better, but this was a wednesday so it was men, and it was still awesome. I had to borrow this photo because to my great dismay and torture I am not allowed to take pictures in the Chapel. The seats you see in the picture are where the congregation sits with the choir next to them in another section. (pic from woklife.com)

::HIDDEN TREASURE and SUPERPOWERS::
Alissa and I had so much fun shopping together at the market, looking for a birthday present for my mom whose birthday was the 8th (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM) and going around to the second-hand (charity) shops looking for hidden treasures! We finally found some adorable tea cups, so now I can properly observe the 4 o'clock British tea time.

We also discovered that Alissa possesses the superpower of "FINDING OWL TRIVETS!" She found two owl trivets in two hours! Who knew that superpower even existed?!

::BRAVING the GREAT OUTDOORS::
When Alissa and Jonathan arrived we decided to hoof it back from the rail station (over 2 miles) tugging their suitcases over narrow cobblestone passages. It turned out to be really fun (and really easy as they packed SHOCKINGLY light. Seriously it was impressive). We decided that, despite the drizzle, we would do the same thing when it was time for them to leave town. As we stepped out into the spitting rain we were all proudly proclaiming our bravery, and just as Jonathan was muttering something about our having a "stiff upper lip" it started to DOWNPOUR. We all froze, looked at eachother and RAN back inside yelling and laughing. We promptly and humbly called a cab. This actually turned out to be nearly as brave a venture as the windshield was almost completely fogged over but the cab driver still sped through the dark rainy streets on the WRONG side of the road (well it seemed wrong to us). It was a bit scary, but also fun. We had to say our goodbyes quickly as they dropped me off on a corner near our friend's house (where I was headed for dinner), and it was better that way because I didn't have a chance to get really emotional. It was still very sad to see them go, but I am so thankful for the wonderful memories we made!

Miss you guys already!

If you want to see thousands more pictures from their visit click here.

tidbits ::2::

2009-10-05T10:06:00.000+01:00

- Alissa and Jonathan are coming TOMORROW! I (we) CAN NOT wait! We are trying to make guest preparations like getting our 4th chair back from the custodian, and buying bowls and sheets (we also got a trusty air mattress.) Of course our first real rain is scheduled to start... tomorrow so I'm praying that weather men are wrong over here too.

- On my first bike ride I got a bug in my mouth. On my second bike ride I drove on the VERY street where we took the "bus and bike lane" picture - at night. On my third bike ride I got hit in the face with a moth. On my fourth bike ride I got hit in the face with a bee. On my sixth bike ride it was spitting rain in my face and windy and freezing - at night. I think it's safe to say our bikes have been an overall success thus far.

- The one item we can't find in england (so far) is CHOCOLATE CHIPS. Semi-sweet chocolate morsels are rare here it would seem. We have looked at two groceries and both had only one option sold in TINY bags and expensive. Also, their vanilla extract is the color of apple juice (I poured and poured it on and could still barely taste it.) How are we supposed to make cookie dough under these conditions?!

summa read along

2009-10-01T15:50:00.000+01:00

I know there are a few people out there planning on reading along with me in Tour of the Summa. If you haven't recently told me about this, please email me or comment here letting me know. I think it will probably be easier to do this by email than on here. I'm putting together a short introduction, some helps, and the reading schedule for the first weeks. Hopefully I can send this out on Saturday.

to cycle.

2009-10-01T00:15:00.001+01:00

From blog photos

tidbits

2009-09-30T11:53:00.000+01:00

- I was looking over our British coins the other day to familiarize myself, and I noticed that the one pence coin says "one penny" on it; then I GOT IT! That is why we call our one cent a penny - one PENce! I have not verified this, but it seems true. Everyone else probably already knew this, but I did not.

- One Pound coins sound different than quarters when they fall. Ironically they sound lighter.

- I am almost CERTAIN that the announcer voice in our lift is Julie Andrews. No, I do not think that every female british voice I hear is Julie Andrews. Does anyone know where I can get a sample of her saying "please select your floor," so I can compare? I can see her becoming the voice of British lifts as an alternative to singing.

- The sinks here have two faucets. The left dispenses scalding hot water, and the right dispenses very cold water. It makes washing your face interesting.

- A few days ago while I was walking down a quiet side street I suddenly realized I had forgotten what side of the road we drive on in the US and what side the Brits drive on! Cars were parked on both sides of the street in both directions, and the only way I could remember was by thinking "right on red, right on red."

to market, to market...

2009-09-29T18:13:00.001+01:00

Brandon and I are feeling much more settled in now, having purchased most of the everyday items we need to survive, gotten the internet and cell phones, and opened our British bank account. We also received a box of goodies from Jesse Torgerson and his wife Kelly who studied here last year. They were kind enough to leave us a bunch of towels and hangers and pillows, &c!

So, this is sort of our first week of normal life at Cambridge, and we haven't quite figured out how everything will flow just yet.

I walked to town to get groceries yesterday and before I knew it I had picked out 3 meals-worth of food along with basic items like milk, cheese, butter - oh and a can opener. I didn't think anything of it until I was about 100 yards in to my walk home with a ridiculously heavy shopping-bag sized bag on each arm. I slowly made my way back, frequently stopping to readjust the heavy load, and kick myself. A bike wouldn't have helped unless it had had deluxe saddle bags. I am still feeling it today. From now on I am going do what I had originally planned when I saw our mini-fridge, and go for groceries more frequently buying much less.

From this day forward it will be "To market, to market to buy a fat pig. Home again, home again jiggity jig."

little saint mary's bishop walk

2009-09-28T13:25:00.000+01:00

From blog photos

On Sunday we visited the church Little St Mary's (Anglican) for a second time. Little St Mary's is a mediæval parish church which was built in the late nineteenth century. We attended their High Mass which is a very formal "liturgical and sacramental witness in the Catholic tradition of the Church of England." (www.lsm.org.uk/) The mass is very beautiful and reverent.

The church building is gorgeous and each Sunday there has been sunlight pouring through the stained glass windows making amazing sun beams in the smoke from the incense. There was even a butterfly fluttering around in the sunlight! So magical.

I got to take some pictures this time while we stayed afterwards for coffee (no wine like last week). See more.

LSM is in The Diocese of Ely (another city in Cambridgeshire) and it is celebrating its 900th Anniversary this year.

In honor of their 900th Anniversary and the 800th Anniversary of the University of Cambridge Bishop Anthony of Ely walked from Ely to Cambridge (abt. 17 miles) and then took a punt to the shore near the church. People were invited to welcome him on the shore and then accompany him as he walked to Peterhouse (the oldest and smallest of the Cambridge Colleges). So we (Brandon and I, Peter and Jill, and Kevin) went along to observe the ceremony. It was an interesting event to see and we ended up comprising a large portion of the welcomers.

From blog photos

For more pictures of the church and the event see our flickr set here.

to bike or not to bike?

2009-09-25T11:06:00.000+01:00

Cambridge is a walking and biking city. Everyone bikes. From 2 year olds to old grannies. When we first arrived here in our rental car from the airport one of the first things I noticed was how SKINNY the roads are, how much traffic there is, and how the bikers ride right on the edge of the road with all the fast-moving traffic. It scared me to be in a CAR in that situation, and I was far more afraid to be one of the bikes. There were many close calls and cringes as we passed through narrow corridors with a bike and a bus at the same time.

From blog photos

This photo summarizes all my fears. Yes, that says "bus and bike lane." The bus will win every time, right?

After much thought and deliberation we have decided that we do need to join the bike crowd, however. The city centre of Cambridge is only a few miles across but when you're carrying groceries it feels much farther, and it would be very nice to be able to zip over to visit friends or grab something from the market. We have been advised that drivers in this city are very used to bikes and bikers are used to, well buses. So, we will need your prayers as we attempt to "get back on the bike," and learn to ride under these circumstances. Hey, if those grannies can do it and survive this long, I should be able to do it too right?

greetings blog-world!

2009-09-25T10:54:00.000+01:00

Well, hello everyone. Welcome to the first blog post in my entire life! Ok, so I'm a bit behind the times. I felt like I had to make my first post very special or something, but since so much has been happening I didn't even know where to start. Then I decided a hello is a proper place to begin! Does this mean I'm a blogger now? Doubtfully. Well, I will give this a go and hope it is enjoyable for some.

Cheers!

more pictures

2009-09-25T10:15:00.000+01:00

Since Andrea is hesitant to begin her blogging career, I wanted to let you know we have a bunch more pictures up on flickr. We are still trying to figure out the best way to organize them, but two new sets have appeared. The first is a general Cambridge set, this will have all the pictures from Cambridge in it. The second is the beginning of our Cambridge Naturalist set. There are enough pictures there for you to get the idea.

I have my second seminar tonight. The readings have gone fairly well, although I will be relieved to be done getting things like phone and internet figured out so I can focus on studying and leisurely walks around the countryside and city.

internet, how we have missed you.

2009-09-24T12:10:00.000+01:00

We just got the internet in our flat. I am busy studying today, but Andrea should be able to post an update and do some serious picture uploading. Hopefully we can get some skyping in this weekend.

still waiting on internet...

2009-09-23T14:50:00.000+01:00

Our router did not come on Tuesday as promised, so hopefully it comes today. Until we get it, posting and emailing will still be minimal. Don't forget us! we'll be online soon.

Also, if you comment anonymously sign who you are so we know who you are, otherwise you designate yourself as a creeper.

reason #1 brandon should not be allowed in public.

2009-09-21T14:16:00.000+01:00

Although it was inevitable, it sure didn't take long. I have done something awkward and embarrassing. We were on our walk back the other day and noticed people picking the berries we had been wondering about.

From Untitled Album

Are they poisonous or edible? Are they blackberries, raspberries or some unknown berry goodness? So, I asked them a simple question: Are those raspberries? Perfectly normal question to ask, except it came out in a British accent. I don't know why it happened, I certainly wasn't trying to do it. Instantly, I became an observer to my own act - "WHAT AM I DOING?!" My overcompensation to completely plain American English probably didn't help much. Thankfully they seemed a bit startled by my question, as though they had been caught doing something wrong. So maybe they didn't notice.

Thus went my first faux pas.

saturday at fourteen hundred

2009-09-19T14:37:00.000+01:00

It is early Saturday afternoon and we found a cool upstairs section to where we have been using the internet. Just discovered that the update I wrote yesterday didn't post, so I'm rewriting it now.

The bad: we won't have internet until Tues, so no skyping or massive picture uploading until then. Expect a lot of pictures starting Wed.

Everything else is good. We have been slowly accumulating apartment goods. Today we finally found an alarm clock and a watch. This is very important since we need to be somewhere for church at 8:30am tomorrow. We are visiting two churches tomorrow. Both are Anglican, but one is high church and the other is lower from what we hear. For lunch we are going to a food and garden festival at one of the colleges.

We have managed to upload some pictures from our journey and first walk. They are each in a set on our flickr page, but check back to the journey page since we have many more to add once we get online.

Our apartment is not exactly old English style, but it is nice and clean and ours, which has been very nice after long days of walking. We are very happy with it and it is starting to feel like home. Pictures in due time.

Speaking of walking, there is a lot of it here. We are probably going to get bikes, but are trying to check our options before we do. Thursday, our biggest walking day, involved 7 hours and probably 15 miles. The addition of carrying a lot has caused sore feet and backs, but we should get used to it soon.

I started my serious study of Aquinas yesterday. I think I have something of a method of study now, but it takes a lot of time. The pace should pick up a bit, but right now it is at about 30min/ article. For Tuesday afternoon I need to ready something like 45 articles. Yikes. A wise 90+ year old Princeton Professor's advice is now looking very wise - get ready to stay up late. Don't worry, a coffee maker was one of our first purchases.

We also visited our first pub the other night. It was nice, the beer was delicious. The tap beer is different here. It is hand pumped instead of pressurized. This means it is less fizzy than US tap beer, which I much prefer. Andrea even finished her pint.

The other students and I went to the college to tell them we have arrived and were given a brief tour. Our ID cards are one the way - cool. In case you are interested, we are at Wolfson college.

That is all for now. Please comment here and on our pictures, it will be a great way for all us to stay in regular contact. Cheers.

we are here

2009-09-15T19:01:00.000+01:00

We made it safely, but slept little and are heading home to crash pretty soon. Hopefully we have internet up in a day or two so we can give some more details.

off we go...

2009-09-14T05:23:00.000+01:00

It is late Sunday night. We are packed and getting our computers ready for the trip. Our going away parties have been a blast, and it was great to see so many of you before we head out. Please keep up with our blog and comment on what is going on, it will be a great way to keep in touch.

Our itinerary: We fly out of MN tomorrow night at 7:20 and get to London the next morning at 11:30. We are then renting cars and driving to Cambridge. Our fist seminar for the study will be a week from Tuesday. So if you want to follow along, be sure to pick up one of the books I recommended (Tour of the Summa if just one).

At my mom's house we celebrated each of the holidays we will be missing. I thought this July 4th picture was fitting for our last day in the States. Enjoy.

From man found alive with two legs.

In case you want to read along...

2009-08-25T00:09:00.000+01:00

I have been trying to figure out a good book to read for anyone who wants to follow along with my reading through the Summa Theologiae. I'll give three different recommendations:

1) Get A Tour of the Summa (it takes awhile to get it new, but there are a lot of used available) and read the Summa along with me. I'll also recommend certain selections of the Summa. You can get these online here, but I'll link to them as I recommend them. The benefit of this book is that it actually summarizes the entire Summa. Although you won't get a lot of the arguments, objections and distinctions that I'll be reading, you will be able to have an idea of what I am reading and what Aquinas thinks about things. This is what I would recommend doing. Also, this is what Andrea is doing.

2) Get The Thought of Thomas Aquinas and read through it in segments by what I am reading. This book also covers all of the topics the Summa covers. The benefit of this book is that it is a recent book whose author wants to make Aquinas understandable today. The downside is that it leaves a lot of the Summa out in order to explain some of it.

3) Read both of these books. Considering the reading will be spread out over ten months, this is a fairly doable task.

We'll try to post at least once more before we leave, explaining what we are hoping to do with this blog.

Cheers.

Hey

2009-07-28T20:27:00.000+01:00

This is a placeholder for Brandon and Andrea's Cambridge blog. We will start posting in a few weeks. And hopefully we'll think of a more interesting name for the blog.