Home again

Back in Oxford! Arrived at 5:15am as the temperature was struggling to rise above freezing. Thick frost and grey clouds greeted me as I walked from the bus to my home. Quite a contrast with the 27C and sunny skies that I left behind in NZ!

The trip was uneventful...which made it seem rather longer coming back than going. I left Auckland at about 1pm Boxing Day, and my arrival time was 6:15 NZ time the next day. Rather more time in an airplane than is comfortable, to say the least. They did turn us out into the Singapore airport for 2 hours, but it was at some horrible hour (in NZ time) like 2 in the morning, so I was unable to fully appreciate looking at Ferragamo shoes and Gucci handbags (okay, you're right, I am never fully appreciative of these sorts of things!), nor was I in the mood to avail myself of the gym and swimming pool. They do offer computers with free internet access, so I amused myself for a while answering emails.

I did learn a couple of things on the return journey. Although I was reluctant to leave New Zealand and end my fabulous work/vacation trip, after spending over a day in the cramped economy class of an airplane, I found myself longing for home! Amazing how quickly one's perspective can change. I also learned that British Airways and Qantas seats must be ever so slightly different - I was (relatively) comfortable on the Qantas flight on the way down, but on the BA return flight my knees were really painful after about the first 6 hours.

Unlike the Qantas flight, the BA flight did not offer us food at regular 1.5 hour intervals. In fact there was a stretch of about 10 hours when they left us entirely alone. I was amazed at how many people just went right to sleep, and seemed to stay asleep! I did manage a couple of hours, but the rest of the time listened to music on my iPod, watched movies and wandered about trying to relieve my sore knees.

Movies - I think I watched five. Here are my reveiws:

Wall-E - Described in the Dallas Morning News as "Pixar's surprisingly political postmodern masterpiece," it is about the environment, consumerism, technology, and...okay it's a really fun movie about a robot with a cockroach for a friend, and...well, I won't spoil it for you.
Harry Potter and the prisoner of somewhere that sounds like Azerbaijan (but isn't) - mildly entertaining.
Ghost Town - a good part for Ricky Gervais of The Office - silly premise about a man who can see ghosts, who all nag him to do things for them so they can rest in peace - again, mildly entertaining.
Julia - an alcoholic woman kidnaps a young boy in order to get money to escape her circumstances - no happy endings with this one. Tilda Swinton as Julia is fantastic.
Bottle Shock - about the rise to fame of California's Napa Valley wines in 1976 when they won against French wines in a blind tasting in France. Funny, interesting...and brought back happy memories of my years living in California.

I tried to watch Mamma Mia. I really tried. I've been told how funny it is, how entertaining, how great the music is. A friend gave it this most rave of reviews - "Even my husband liked it." But...well...first of all, I don't really like musicals. Except perhaps for the ones on the Simpsons, but then, they are spoofing musicals. Opera? yes; musicals? sorry, not so much. Second, I was never an Abba fan - my tastes ran to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; Santana and others on the more 'Rock' side of the spectrum, or musicians more towards the 'folk' side, like Joni Mitchel, Joan Baez, James Taylor. And finally...I find it hard to get excited about a movie whose premise is that a young woman doesn't know which of the three men her mother had a summer fling with is her father. Really -- how many parents of a young girl would say that their dream for their daughter is that she sleep with multiple men in a summer and have a child by one of them? So why do we find such behaviour (and its outcomes) so amusing?

Well, piles of mail await me, and the suitcase is still only partly unpacked.

This will be my last travel blog. Someone has suggested I keep blogging, but I fear my life in Oxford will not be so enthralling - I have visions of blogs that read: "I woke up and had a coffee. Then I went to work. I worked on a report. I came home and went for a run. I ate dinner. I went to bed." I'm sure I would not have many readers for long.

On the other hand, I have enjoyed writing this blog, and may start a new, more 'reflective' blog. If you ask me nicely, I'll let you know how to find it. But first, I have a few days of vacation left - I'm off to my cousins' farm in Dorset tomorrow.

Thanks for listening!

Farewell New Zealand

Leaving in a few hours to head home to Oxford, thought I would post some final pictures. Included are some shots of Cathedral Cove, a location used in the filming of Prince Caspian of the Narnia series. The location was used because of the rock archway, which mirrors the train tunnel from which the children are transported back to Narnia. I've also included some pictures of the great family I've been staying with. Eventually I'll sort through the hundreds of photos and put some on facebook...eventually!

Christmas Day

Christmas is well and truly here down under.The aroma of turkey is filling the entire house, veggies are cooking, and we are waiting for some Chinese friends to arrive and then we'll eat. This morning I had brunch with a number of friends - Malaysian Chinese, Dutch, American and Singaporean. I had brought to NZ a magnum of champagne from a vineyard I visited in Oz, so I took that and we had mimosas (buck's fizz in the UK). Oh yes, there was some food involved as well! A wonderful (if bizarre) assortment of cultural delicacies including noodles with fish cake, muffins with raspberries from the garden, lychee and waffles with maple syrup.

It is hard to believe that in less than 20 hours from now I'll be almost in Sydney, and then on to Singapore, and London. Hard to believe, hard to leave. Where did a month go?

Perhaps the strangest thing is remembering how hard it was to leave the UK -- how I felt that being here would stretch thin relationships with my friends, how the unknowns of this trip loomed large. Once on the plane I was fine, but some of you can attest to the fact of how stressed I was as my departure grew near! Okay...part of my 'leaving problem' was due to the fact that I was trying to complete two months of work in one, and not sleeping well. But now on leaving I feel a strange reluctance that reminds me of what I was experiencing a month ago. This time I am not concerned about my friendships (skype, email, facebook - they all make the world much smaller), and I will certainly be happy to see everyone I left behind in Oxford. Perhaps it is just change that I find hard. I've grown accustomed to this wanderer's life -- the joy of learning new things about people (including myself), seeing wonderful places, my few changes of clothes. Settling down to a more mundane existence again will not be easy.

So...I wish any of you who have nothing better to do on Christmas Day and are reading this a very happy day!

Christmas Eve in a foreign land

Most of you who read this will (hopefully) be sleeping as I write. It is a strange experience to be so far away from most of my friends and family - to be warm and tanned (though wet for the past couple of days) whereas most of you are surrounded by snow, rain, frost, and cold; to be going to bed as you are thinking about mid-morning coffee; to be walking daily among Samoans, Tongans, and Maori; to be faced with wide open spaces instead of the narrow streets of Oxford. It is certainly a wonderful experience to be in a land, in a culture so different from my own.

But there is something about Christmas that always makes one long for home I think. It doesn't seem to matter whether or not that home ever really existed. The empty commercial hype, the talk of gifts and giving, the references to 'Christmas spirit' - these all leave us longing for people to share with, people to draw close to, a place to belong ... a family, a community. Sadly, in our short lives this longing is only fulfilled in part, and often not at all.

I am greatly blessed to have both friends and family who surround me with love. And in this land so far away from many of you, I find there is 'room in the inn' for me with a family who have opened their home and hearts to me this Christmas. The Pelz family work with the same organization that I do, used to live in Oxford and attend the same church as I do. We knew one another, but were not close friends. We got to know one another best when they were moving and I was jobless, and therefore available to help them pack and clean. And now ... here I am, several years later - finding that here on the 'other side' of the world is welcome, here home, here community and communion.

We are well into Christmas Eve in the Pelz family. Presents are being wrapped, Jane and I are cooking up a storm (tuna, shrimp and veggies on the bbq tonight, turkey tomorrow. a new dessert recipe baking in the oven), young Josh is watching yet another Disney channel Christmas movie (who knew there were so many? not me!). Tonight a midnight service, which brings back wonderful memories of my childhood - getting to stay up late, carols and eager anticipation, a church filled with candles. I know, though, that trying to relive those magical times, trying to find meaning in all the trappings of the season, is not what is truly important. Nor, even, are friends and family - they will fail us too.

Came across this quotation by John Stackhouse Jr. the other day, so I'll end with it, as I think it points the way through all disappointments, past and present, and provides a basis for the only kind of community that has a chance of really lasting:

"Carols stir us. Holy words inspire us. The golden glow from the manger warms us. A little religion at Christmas is fine. But that glow in the manger comes from the Light of the world. It exposes evil and either redeems it or destroys it. The babe in the manger is far more than an object for sentimental sighs. He is the Son of God who must be accepted as ruler - or confronted as rival."

Maori culture

I can't believe how fast the days are passing here. Suddenly it seems as if time is speeding up - I expect this always happens when one is approaching the end of travels that have been as fantastic as this time has been for me.

I am currently staying with a family with children (aged 8 and 11) who used to live in Oxford. Living with children is fun! Of course it is -- all the hard work of raising them has been done for me, and I can enjoy them, and give them back when they are naughty! It has slowed me down though ... getting them out of the door for any activity takes time. But this is a good thing for me I think, as I am only just realizing that I need some 'down' time to recover from the frantic activity of the past weeks.

On Saturday I decided that I need at least one day out of the sun, less I absorb too many chemicals from sunscreen or turn my skin into leather. So I went to the Auckland museum. They have a terrific display of Maori artifacts, and also a cultural performace which I attended. Fascinating!! The carving is amazing, the history sad. Promised the Queen's protection in 1840, this didn't happen, and war broke out between them and the settlers who were taking over their land. Now there have been both apologies and financial settlements, but I wonder how much resentment still lingers. More Maori youth are becoming quite proud of their heritage, and traditional tattoos are much more common as a sign of their identity. You can see the kinds of tattoos on the photos of carvings I include below.

The other day I was thinking that I had not yet sung a Christmas carol, and that I wasn't feeling as if Christmas was approaching. That all changed as I accompanied my friends to a Christmas drive-through at their church to sing in a small choir of carollers. I got to sing 12 carols over and over again -- three and a half times to be exact! Every Christmas I am overwhelmed by amazing words in some of the carols, and I wonder what people who don't believe what they are singing are thinking as they sing such things:

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Son of Righteousness!

Light and life to all He brings

Ris'n with healing in His wings

Mild He lays His glory by

Born that man no more may die

Born to raise the sons of earth

Born to give them second birth

Hark! The herald angels sing"

Glory to the newborn King!"

The drive-through nativity was great, with lots of kids from the church participating as angels, shepherds and so on. The church has a long curved driveway, and the Christmas story was told in word and actions as cars drove slowly along - angels proclaiming to shepherds, centurions taking a census, an inn-keeper with his "No Vacancy" sign, and...real sheep, calves, donkey, and a llama doing an excellent imitation of a camel! Over 2,000 cars drove through in 4 days, giving people from the community a chance to learn something about the Christ of Christmas. Great idea - in a warm, dry climate!

New Zealand!

I know you are all dying to know more about the ant poem alluded to in my last missive, so I'll include at the end of this blog. But for those who would rather look at wonderful photos and hear about my day in the sun at the beach so that you can get to work immediately on your vicarious tan, I'll start there. This is what the west coast looks like, about 40 minutes from Auckland where I'm staying. Amazing to have such a wild place so close to a big city.







Continuing on up the path to the right of the photographer is a gannet colony. Below is a mum and chick, and part of the colony at the end of the little peninsula.


















Below is the beach I swam at today, seen from a distance, and then on the beach, the family (minus dad) with whom I'm staying. Clouds cleared considerably by the time we got to the beach, and the kids and I (age 8 and 11) played and played in the surf. There was a lifeguard, with flags marking a very small part of the beach where you could swim. Once in the water we realized why the area was so small - there was an incredible rip tide pulling us sideways all the time, and we were constantly being dragged out of the lifeguarded area. Still...it was great fun, even if the water was a bit cool. Isn't the black sand fabulous?!!













Up till today I've been a bit of a slug, not really doing much except talking to my friends. For some reason, jet lag or something has hit me finally as I crossed the two extra hours from Oz to NZ, and I haven't been sleeping well. But today being the first day of school holidays, we have all decided to make the best of my last week here...so let the adventures begin! Sleep or no sleep. Stayed tuned on this blog.


And now, to poetry. The ant poem is called Departmental, and is by Robert Frost. Read it 'on the surface' for a crazy view of ants, or leap into thoughts about the relationship between individuals and society, and one's place in the overall scheme of things. Either way, I think it's rather fun.

An ant on the tablecloth
Ran into a dormant moth
Of many times his size.
He showed not the least surprise.
His business wasn't with such.
He gave it scarcely a touch,
And was off on his duty run.
Yet if he encountered one
Of the hive's enquiry squad
Whose work is to find out God
And the nature of time and space,
He would put him onto the case.
Ants are a curious race;
One crossing with hurried tread
The body of one of their dead
Isn't given a moment's arrest-
Seems not even impressed.
But he no doubts report to any
With whom he crosses antennae,
And they no doubt report
To the higher up at court.
Then word goes forth in Formic:
"Death's come to Jerry McCormic,
Our selfless forager Jerry.
Will the special Janizary
Whose office it is to bury
The dead of the commissary
Go bring him home to his people.
Lay him in state on a sepal.
Wrap him for shroud in a petal.
Embalm him with ichor of nettle.
This is the word of your Queen."
And presently on the scene
Appears a solemn mortician;
And taking formal position
With feelers calmly atwiddle,
Seizes the dead by the middle,
And heaving him high in the air,
Carries him out of there.
No one stands round to stare.
It is nobody else's affair.

It couldn't be called ungentle.
But how thoroughly departmental.

a quiet day in the country

Today my cousins took me to an art gallery where there was a special exhibit of post second world war haute couture. The displays were terrific, but I think I enjoyed the photographs taken for Harpers Bazaar and Vogue the best. The lighting, the contrast of the very rich and the poorer people and surroundings, the decadence, was captured so perfectly in black and white. Some of the styles of clothing I recognized (in muted and less expensive form) from pictures of my childhood.

It has been quite restful being with my cousins, and really nice to meet family on my dad's side. My father was a bit of an 'afterthought' (or lack of thought) in his family, quite a bit younger than his other siblings. And then he fathered me when he was 47 - I'm the youngest of three. Which means all of my first cousins on his side of the family are dead now, and most of my second cousins are older than I. These folk outside Melbourne are second cousins, and there may be a once-removed involved but I forget what that means. But they are still Vindens - very much into music, and they bear the family resemblance (which I don't...but they remind me of my father), and we discover other little similarities the more we are together.  Family is good - I've had so little contact with extended family during my lifetime, growing up in Canada with almost all the relatives over in the UK.  It is great to make contact.

My cousin Peter is a prof in the forestry department at the uni, which has a branch out here in the countryside where they live.  They have 55 acres on a hillside, with an olive grove and lots of fruit trees, including many cider apples.  I'm about to sample the cider now.  In addition to olive oil and olives, they also make fantastic chocolates and marmalade.  All this while working full time.

Peter and another prof have invented a way of microwaving wood to make it dry and porous, and then 'filling' it with resin to make it durable. The entire process takes about two seconds (with a very strong microwave beam!) and the wood looks exactly like normal wood, but is 7 times more durable. They are looking for a company to get on board (no pun intended!) with them to mass produce it. It would be an incredible way to save forests.

Tomorrow I'm of to NZ, wondering what adventures await me there. I'm hoping for a more restful time there as well - Queensland was great but I was up very early every day and then it was go, go, go all day long.

By the way...I forgot to mention about my trip 'up north' to warmer climes (!) - I also saw a field of wallabies.  And I licked a lemon ant.  Repeatedly. Yes. It does taste like lemon. I was going to eat him but felt he would probably like to go home and tell his friends about his adventures.

Now, for the poetry lovers among you - do you know the origin of the following lines from a poem about ants? Well, actually, it is really about modern life, culture and identity:

Then word goes forth in Formic,

"Death's come to Jerry McCormic,

Our fearless forager Jerry."

(p.s. Formic is an acid excreted by ants, which is like a trail for other ants to follow)

am I in England? mmm...no.

Back to Melbourne now, weather is miserable -- 13C this morning, raining all day. Where am I? It is supposed to be 30-something C...I'm supposed to be lounging beside my cousins' pool! What's happening? This is what I would expect in the UK!

Probably global warming - but the rain is certainly needed here with severe drought now for several years, so I shouldn't complain. As I flew from Cairns to Melbourne I saw several lakes that were almost completely dry. But even my cousins think it should rain at night and be nice and sunny during the day.

Our outdoor activities were cancelled today because of the rain, so we spent the afternoon wine tasting in some of the many vineyards nearby. The prices here are so reasonable compared to the UK - I wish I could bring a couple of cases back with me! Alas...it is not to be.

My time in hot, steamy Queensland earlier in the week with my friend Dennis was terrific. You have already seen a picture of me preparing to snorkel -one of my favourite activities. Someone, on seeming me emerge from the ocean in years past, commented that I looked as if I had been talking to angels. That is pretty much how I feel when snorkeling - silence except for the sound of one's own breathing, and this amazing world of fish, coral, sun and water, in fantastic colour and variation that speaks to me of something that surely is not just a product of mere chance. I was in the water for hours, and could have stayed longer. I had hoped to see a shark, but they remained elusive.

I did get to go with a small group to the outer edge of the reef where few snorkellers go. The highlight of that excursion was sighting an enormous 3-foot triggerfish. I was off on my own at the time, and fortunately this one was not aggressive. I told the leader of our group about it, and she said, "I think we had best leave it alone...there has been a fatality from them." Triggerfish are building nests at this time of year, and can be quite defensive.

On our second day we headed for the rainforest of Daintree. This is an area of old growth - untouched for millions of years. A dozen species of trees are found only in Australia and are ancient primitive plants. The biodiversity is incredible - thousands of different types of trees, tens of thousands of different plants. Interesting animals also abound - we spotted a cassowary (did you know that the males raise the chicks alone, and are smaller than the females, though very vicious in defending the young?), estuary crocodile, wallabies, and a tree full of flying foxes (VERY large fruit bats).

I have been amazed at the miles and miles of sandy, empty beaches here in Australia. The water is a lovely temperature, but unfortunately there are stinging jellyfish from November until March. And when I stay stinging, I mean deadly! There is the box jellyfish (also known as Man o' War) which is large with long tentacles. Normally it will just make you very sick unless you are stung repeatedly and are far from shore and unable to make it back to safety. More deadly are a very small variety. Nets are set up in populated areas to make swimming safe, but tentacles can break off and get through the nets and are active for 24 hours. That's why I was wearing a lycra suit when I went snorkeling! No wonder the beaches are empty. And then of course there is the massive hole in the ozone layer down here which means that you can get sunburn very very quickly. Even I am using sunscreen - but still I'm beginning to look a little like Rudolph!

Another day here outside Melbourne, and then I head for New Zealand. I'll be with friends there till Boxing Day, and am looking forward to a more leisurely holiday time, when perhaps I'll be able to catch up on some sleep. But...who knows what adventures await me there!

on the move

I've seen a koala in the wild! Visited the 12 apostles! And, best of all, seen a sting ray and snorkeled my heart out at the Great Barrier Reef!!
Yes, I'm finally on holiday. Friend Dennis and I have travelled along the Great Ocean Road and seen some fantastic coastline (the apostles are huge sandstone 'islands'). Now we are in Cairns to do reef and rainforest. Internet access is very limited, so won't be writing much.
A few picture below to give you a taste...

Guest Blog

Hi -- I'm Suzanne. Penny's been staying with me for the past 4 nights.

Wouldn’t you, Penny’s community, like to know what she is REALLY up to, ‘down under’ here in Melbourne, Australia. And you thought she was hard at work, eh?! Penny, right now, is just standing around, chatting. She is on a street corner or at a tram stop, hearing the dinging of tram bells, the chatter of many different languages, smelling the aroma of good Italian coffee mingled with that of freshly cooked food from all around the world, under what has become a brilliant blue summer sky (after this morning’s chilly start). She is there with a local Aussie student inviting innocent young international students to church tonight. That’s why she has given me, a local AFES staff worker, the opportunity to tell you what she is up to these days.

The team meetings and training times she’s been a part of yesterday and today provide a reasonable excuse for not writing herself. However, if she hadn’t been playing games at the beach yesterday afternoon, bush-dancing the night away last night, sitting in a local food court snuffling her way through wasabi sauce on sushi today, hanging out on street corners soaking up the atmosphere this afternoon or standing up at the front of a grand ‘old’ church (the Aussies think it is old, anyhow) playing a part in the service tonight, then she’d have been writing herself. She thinks she is tired, but she doesn’t look any wearier than the young Aussies alongside whom she is working.


Cricket at the beach yesterday was a ‘first’ for some of the international students. One enthusiastic young Chinese student held the cricket bat over her shoulder like a baseball bat. Oops. Frisbee throwing provided an opportunity for some great snapshots – ask her to see them. The baby son of one of the local AFES staff workers provided lots of entertainment and a talking point for students, both international and local. Penny and several students tore themselves away a little early to set up the church hall for the evening’s bush dance.


As they left for the beach outing, Penny got chatting with a visiting professor from a leading university in Beijing. The professor was delighted to find someone she considered a peer – she attends the international student programmes, but despite following the egalitarian Aussie way of using her given name when speaking English, she (quite rightly) knows that she is NOT amongst equals as far as academia is concerned. Later in the evening, just before the meal of barbequed sausages and salad, Penny had the opportunity to share how she became a Christian from the front of the hall. The professor listened intently, nodding her head throughout. May Penny’s words sink deep into the professor’s heart.


Following the barbeque dinner, an Aussie worker from the church which hosts the programme gave a presentation. He then asked people to talk at tables, and Penny had the privilege of answering questions from one particularly deep thinker on topics such as the nature of eternity, why an individual's death isn’t punishment enough for sin and more… Then the bush dance began - about forty people skipped, stomped, spun and even took turns at hiding as part of a dance.

This evening there will be a final meal together with her team and some students, and the evening ‘Unichurch’ service, before she heads for the last time to her temporary ‘home’ 35km east of Melbourne, after dropping off a couple of students. She has been staying out there, in the place where evening brings a cacophony of deafening cicada music that locals don’t even notice, with this local student worker. Tomorrow she will move on to the next stage of her trip. We’ll miss her.


Thanks, IFES, for sending Penny to work with us on this student outreach following SPRTE. We’ve appreciated her quiet wisdom combined with a refreshingly crazy personality. (We’re not at all crazy down here, you must understand, least of all the writer of this ‘guest travel blog’.) We hope Penny forgets all the tiring and frustrating aspects of the past few days, and take with her only the good memories, of which there are plenty. It’s been great having her down here, and we wish her a restful and rejuvenating holiday during what is left of her adventure ‘down under’.

Time flies

For those who are wondering, since I seem to have fallen silent...yes, I have arrived in Melbourne safely. The trip was long, but the company good, and I now have two new friends. I kept my eyes peeled looking for roos, and saw hundreds, though they all seemed to bear a close resemblance to sheep or cows. A stretch of the imagination. I also saw a lot of dry, golden grass, open spaces, and gum trees, amid rolling low hills. The most spectacular site was at dusk - a large tree full of roosting white cockatoos (or cockies, as they are called here), hanging at various angles like crazed Christmas ornaments.

I must admit to being highly disappointed :) that no one has emerged with the answer to my question regarding the orgin of the phrase 'sheer plod'. For your further education - and or those not in the know, 'windhover' is another name for a kestrel:

The Windhover - For Christ our Lord

I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, - the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!
Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!
No wonder of it: sheer plod makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.

Gerard Manley Hopkins, 1844-1889, British.

Not the most 'accessible' of Hopkins' poems...but interesting themes of things hidden and revealed, and also idea that glorious things are revealed through brokeness.

Had a lovely evening last night with group of about 70 international students. They seemed to have a great time - my hostess and I left at about 10:15, with most of them showing no signs of wanting to go home! I had some great conversations during the evening - the students I talked to were so interested in learning about others, so open to people who think differently than they do, and without the huge chip on their shoulders about Christianity that so many in the West seem to have. And I find it intriguing to hear about their lives, their perspective on life here, on me, on what I believe.

It's all immensely draining, however, especially after an intense week of conference (and an intense month of work before that!) so today I am taking some time off. I was too keyed up to sleep before who knows what hour last night (or rather this morning), and I decided that going on an 'amazing race' today through Melbourne was more than I was up to. So I am writing a short blog instead.

I am sad to report that it is sunny and 30C today. I know you all hate me. And that won't improve as I tell you that tomorrow's outing is to the beach. I am really suffering for God here.

I'm off again!

This morning is the last morning of the conference. At 9am (20 minutes from now) I have to be in a building that is a good 10 minute walk away. We are assigned to a small group, and are learning together how to read the Bible in a way that allows the text to 'speak'. All week we have been looking at Romans 3:21-26. At the end of today's session we each give a 3-5 minute talk on one aspect of this passage. I have never given such a short talk, so it will be a real challenge for me! Especially since there is so much going on in those particular verses.

At 1pm I jump in a car with some people I don't yet know and drive to Melbourne. It is an 8-hour drive, so I expect I'll know them a little better by the time we arrive. From Thursday through Sunday I will be involved in Life Week - an outreach to international students. It looks like a lot of fun, but also some hard work - we'll be 'on deck' from 10am till...10pm? 11pm??

I'm starting to get really tired - the last two nights I found myself falling asleep in the 9pm talks. And this morning when I went running...well, running is not really the appropriate word. More like 'sheer plod'. Bonus points for the first person to email me to tell me which poem and poet that phrase comes from - and without the help of google!! No cheating now. Hint: he also wrote Pied Beauty, one of my favourite poems. If you are stuck, do google and read the poems too.

A little bonus this morning to lift the heart while I tried to run. I saw a man looking up into the trees, and he called me over. There, very close, was a type of cockatoo that is on the endangered species list - larger than the 'normal' white one...black with a large cream-coloured patch on its head. The man said he had never seen one before, so I felt quite privileged to have been able to join him in this moment, when I am only a visitor to this amazing country.

Well...now I must run, literally, to my small group. More later from Melbourne!

I stand corrected

I am informed, by a genuine Aussie, that the pink and grey parrot is in fact not a parrot. I know you are all keen to expand your knowledge of birds from down under, so I include this quote from my friend for your edification:

"The pink and grey bird would be a galah: a Psittaciform, but a cockatoo rather than a parrot or lorikeet. The word 'galah' can also refer to a person who exhibits a significant lack of common sense - it can be quite offensive and may be accompanied by a variety of expletives."

Given the time these birds have been waking me up, I understand about the expletives, whether or not you are referring to bird or human.

Now you know.

I think the birds say it all - big, bold, brash and beautiful. That's Australia (and Australians!). I mean that in the best of ways.

I'm still loving it here! Never mind that a group of those pink and gray parrots (see photo in earlier blog - they are about the size of wood pigeons) come to sit in the sun at about 5:30am on my window ledge, and their noisy chatter wakes me up. There are other gorgeous parrots as well - a brilliant red and deep blue one, and a red, yellow and green one - but they are not as common as my freindly pink and grey ones. There are crows whose call is a slow "aa...uh oh". Cockatoos are really raucous, as are the magpies, who are not as pretty but much bigger than the ones in the UK.

Today I had some free time and walked about a mile to a lake, along a path lined with enormous gum trees (eucalyptus). I was familiar with these trees from my time in the mountains of Peru, where they have been planted as a source of fast-growing wood. There are so many different varieties here. One kind is just as pictured - almost entirely silver!

Still having great conversations with both students and staffworkers. I'm enjoying it so much - am I really getting paid to do this?!

The real conference begins

I’m starting to lose track of days, with my watch telling me Canberra time and my computer telling me Oxford time, and days running into one another with an endless stream of talks, seminars, cafeteria meals, and conversations. I have to look at my schedule to find out that it is Saturday here. And ‘there’ where you are too for that matter, though the other end of Saturday!

Yesterday was the last day of the senior staff conference, and we had an afternoon free. I managed to get adopted by four Kiwis, who are a rowdy, fun bunch, and we set of in a hire car to go to the top of a tower and get a view of the countryside. We decided to ignore Jenny, our friendly satnav, and just drive around the lake, because that was the ‘obvious’ way to go. Jenny was right, however, but we had fun answering back to her before we finally took her much repeated advice to do a u-turn as soon as possible. It is the journey that’s important, right, not the destination? – or at least so some people tell us. It turned out to be right in this case, with the destination being a bit of a disappointment – but we had a lot of laughs along the way. We ended our trip driving in a thunderstorm to the war memorial. I think there were a lot of lovely statues and other sites along the long boulevard approaching the museum, but the rain was too heavy to see. On our arrival we were bombarded by hail the size of overgrown peas, so we surrendered to the weather and drove back to campus without leaving the car.

Today 1,100 students arrived! So the pace of things has increased considerably, as have the lines into the cafeteria. They are a great bunch of kids. I especially like the students from Fiji. They have been really friendly to me in a special way. I wonder if it is a cultural difference, if they are respecting me as someone older. If that is the case, it is a really lovely kind of respect, a kind that does not distance but draws me close into their circle as one of them.

A more traditional and western sign of respect is that, as an international guest, I have special rights and privileges, signalled by a large blue dot on my name badge. I was double registered, and I have an ordinary badge as well, so I’ve put the two in a single holder which I can flip over to suit my purposes. The blue dot gets me special seating at meals with other guests, which I decline in favour of sitting with students. It also, however, gets me soft seats in the front rows of the huge concert hall where the main sessions are held, and I’m using my guest badge for those!

The last announcement tonight was a plea from one of the organizers for the students to be considerate of those who wanted to sleep by not talking in the hallways – and to consider going to bed at a decent hour themselves. I am amazed – the students who want to stay up are in the common rooms, and the halls are quiet! If this sort of behaviour is the fruit of belonging to a Christian student movement, I’m all for it!

Now I’ll take advantage of the quiet and head for bed.

In the swing of things

After sleeping well due to sheer exhaustion, jet lag seems to be settling in. Twice yesterday I found myself fighting to stay awake. Today (28 Nov) at 4am I woke up, and finally I’ve decided to get out of bed and write a little instead of going over yesterday’s events in my head.

Yesterday was a great day – I’m getting to meet so many people, and they are all very open about sharing what’s happening in their lives with me. Currently only senior staff and a few international students are at the conference. These first two days are a time both of focusing on staff needs, and also presenting opportunities that exist for student work in New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea. Yesterday I head about the student movement in Vanuatu, where there is no full-time staff worker. Last year for the first time an apprentice worker went there, only 21-years-old and in his first year of training, green as grass, and yet the movement grew immensely, with many young men joining in for the first time. It’s sad to think that there are so many student groups worldwide that are without leadership or encouragement, like buds just waiting to blossom.

Lindsay Brown (former ‘director’ of IFES) spoke twice yesterday. He has stepped in to replace Daniel Bourdanné (current ‘director’ of IFES) who is unable to be here. I was very disappointed that I wouldn’t get to hear Daniel speak…but I haven’t been disappointed with Lindsay! In the morning he spoke on 10 lessons learned in 30 years of involvement with IFES, giving practical advice to staff workers. I liked the fact that he didn’t skirt around difficult issues, but dealt with topics such as the need to adjust one’s pace as one gets older, and the importance of ‘developing a bottomless capacity for disappointment’ when it comes to human beings! There is much of what he said I’d like to talk about in detail with some of you, and no doubt that desire will grow in the days to come. Eventually there will be downloadable MP3 files of the talks.

In the evening they interviewed me briefly, which was fun. My colleagues in the office will be proud of me – I was able to fit in the phrase from our new vision, ‘releasing student initiative’ and also introduced the gang here to the concept of us in the Oxford office being the ‘international service centre’ – though I also mentioned that while we liked the concept, we are still not entirely at ease with Daniel’s phraseology. Most here agree that it sounds a bit like a petrol station on a motorway. The comms team needs to work on it more I think!

Other than the conference…I attempted to go for a short run after lunch yesterday when I had a free hour. Not a bright idea, running on a full stomach, and I had forgotten how debilitating the heat can be. Only mad dogs and English men go out in the noon day sun…you can decide which I am. However, far be it from me to complain about the heat – it is delicious! Hot days and cool nights – what more can I ask for? In the night there were some spectacular thunder storms. Australia desperately needs the rain. In Melbourne, for example, they are approaching the dry season with reservoirs at only 32% capacity.

Enough rambling. Today I may get to join a group guests who are sightseeing, so tomorrow I may have a more exciting blog.

At this early hour of the day, short on sleep, I feel I’m not adequately communicating how great it is to be here. Singing with the group yesterday, though, I had a strong sense that this conference is not just about me meeting people, about learning what’s happening, and bringing back to the office all sorts of information. What’s happening here is for me, too

Below are 3 pics, in order: the two best friends of a jet-lagged me, and Lindsay Brown (in case you wonder who is he and if he is male or female!) eating breakfast.

p.s. This blog is a day late…I’m only now in the early evening having time to upload what I wrote this morning.

I made it!

It’s 5:15 pm on Wed. I got on a bus for Heathrow airport at this time on Monday, and have been in transit ever since, with only a few snatched hours of sleep. The computer says it is 6:15 am in the UK, my head feels as if it is filling up with cement, and all I want to do is sleep. I’m trying to stay awake for dinner and for a couple of hours afterwards so I can adjust to time here. I think I’ll make it to dinner.

The flight here was not the nightmare of boredom that I imagined it would be. How does one fill up 22 hours on a plane? The answer for Qantas is – a marathon of eating! Barely had I squeezed myself into the allotted space when a cheerful flight attendant was there passing out menus – yes, in economy no less! Along the bottom of the page was a timeline of the trip’s eating opportunities – 4 main meals and almost endless snacks. It did indeed pass the time. However, it all became rather irksome when, in the darkness of the night, as you felt yourself finally slipping toward blissful oblivion, you were jerked back every half hour or so with offers of a glass of water or a piece of fruit.

But between the constant eating, a little light conversation, several movies (I recommend Australia’s Shine and also enjoyed In Bruges) and even a few snatches of sleep, the time did pass, and quite soon we were disembarking in Bangkok, the refueling point, for a wander round the airport. Unbeknownst to us, the airport had recently been barricaded due to some demonstrations, with the result that our flight crew for the next leg was over an hour late. This meant that we arrived late in Sydney and I missed my connection to Canberra. I was shepherded, along with hundreds of others who had also missed their connections, to a special Qantas Domestic transfers ‘pen’ which had far too few people at the other end processing us. As a result I missed several other possible connections, arriving in Canberra to find that lots of people new my name, thanks to the couple who had come and waited in vain for me for about an hour and a half. Sadly, in the chaos of leaving Oxford I had neglected to get any information concerning where I was going and who was picking me up – no address, no telephone numbers. I was able to find out some info online however. In the end a number of limo chauffeurs became involved in my plight (Canberra airport is very small) and one of them rescued me, driving me to the university for free!

I can’t believe I’m actually in Australia! Gradually it’s sinking in though – seeing flocks of raucous parrots and watching a cockatoo in a tree outside my window (don’t these things always live in cages?) helps. All the trees are very different. And there is something here called a ‘sun’ that has a companion called ‘warmth’ – that is very different from Oxford. Mind you…by their standards it is cool here at the moment…but I am still enjoying it immensely. I’m finishing this now at 8:00 pm, having been revived by dinner, and am noting that dusk is only now settling in. Another discovery here – a Cadbury’s chockie bar – coconut and cherry covered thickly in dark (70%) chocolate. Mmmm…

On that note – I am going for a wee walk to see if I can relax a little and get back into tired mode again. Tomorrow is full tilt conference – the people I’ve met so far are lovely and I’m looking forward to meeting more from outside Australia in the next two days of Expo that highlight the movements in PNG, Fiji, Vanuatu and NZ.

Photos in order (can't figure out how to put captions with them at the moment):

Luxury accommodations - already trashed minutes after I arrive! :)

ANU campus across the street from my dorm.

Parrot of some sort.

Anxious for nothing?

The day before I leave...still have that queasy feeling, wondering if everything is going to get done, if I will pack the right things, if the bus to Heathrow will get stuck in traffic, if I will have left undone things I ought to have done...all those little things that betray my insecurities!

Travelling is strange. It feels somehow that as the distance increases between myself and my friends, the relationships are somehow going to be stretched thin. I think it is not just me who feels this - I'm experiencing that phenomenon of everyone suddenly wanting to see me before I go (even people whom I haven't spent any significant time with in over a year!), just at a time when I have less time to hang out with people. I know it is silly - that a relationship is not physical. And that I'll be in email contact. Perhaps there is also some unconscious fear that something will happen and we won't see one another again. So I'm feeling a kind of generalised queasiness at the moment, and eager to end it by getting on the plane, which will signal that I can release my paltry attempts to control the present and relax into the future.

Today I'm meeting the friendship angst head on by cooking Sunday lunch for some good friends. Craziness perhaps, given all I have to do, but it is a good way to see a number of people at once, so in the long run I hope it will save me time!

Talking to someone at work on Friday I realised that she and I both share a curious habit when we are about to travel. We decide at the last minute that there are certain jobs that we have put off for months or even years, that absolutely must be done before we leave. I wonder - do men indulge in this kind of silly behaviour too? I once decided, on the eve of a 9-hour drive to Toronto, where I was going to visit friends before flying to the UK for the summer, at 11:30pm no less, that I absolutely had to hang my bicycle from the rafters in the basement. I managed to knock some insulation into my eye, giving myself a corneal abrasion, which meant a midnight drive to emergency, driving home at 1am (very carefully) under the influence of mega-painkillers, and leaving a day later.

Is writing this blog one of those unnecessary last minute things? Probably...

I attach a picture of my half-packed suitcase - this one's for you, Andy, since you have taught me that nothing is too insignificant to take a photo of. Actually I think my suitcase is pretty boring, but I want to test how to do pictures, so when I have something interesting I'll know how to do it.

Okay...I think this is enough procrastinating for now!