Various and Sundry Pictures in the Old Souq

This little boy on a donkey was too cute for words. After I snapped the shot, he went trotting down the street. It's a little difficult to see in this dark view through the souq, but the ceiling is a bunch of wood beams with thatched reeds going across. If you wondered how they lowered the man through the roof so that Jesus could heal him in Mark 2:1-12, you can see how it was done. The thatch was pulled away and the roof beams slid out to make an opening. You'll also notice the men with wheelbarrows in this shot. There are no shopping carts in the souq. If you have something large to bring to the car, or many bundles, you hire one of these men, who are usually from Afghanistan, to ferry the goods in the wheelbarrow.

The colorful dresses on the right in this picture is what the women often wear beneath their abayas. You can see a couple of the black-clad women to the left of my brother-in-law and PH in this picture.

How I Know I'm Not Home, Pt. II

Camel crossing signs on the road out to the beach.

Speaking of camels, I actually got to ride one yesterday while we were out on the Arabian Penninsula yesterday. They're not called ships of the desert for nothing - you sway from side to side as they walk. They get up rear end first, so you have to hold tight to the saddle pommel when they get up. They get down again front first, so once again you hold on, this time to the back of the saddle, so you don't get pitched forward over the head. My camel was named Sheikha, and she was the mellower of the two camels we had to choose from. Sarah, the other camel, whined and complained even when no one was riding her...she must have been having a bad day.

StrongOpinions was happy because she found some cats to play with. Qatari cats are smaller than US cats, but much more vocal. She was ecstatic petting the cats, who were busy looking for some easy food. She, PH and my brother-in-law rode quad ATVs over the dunes. My sister-in-law and I rested in the majlis (a tented area with cushions in a sofa-like conformation) and read and napped, before we came back into town.















This morning we went to the gold souq. Much beautiful and exotic 22-carat jewelry, but much too fancy and bright for me. Then we went to an odd little second-hand store where I found a beautiful red embroidered pashmina scarf. Less expensive than the gold and more useful to me.

PH and StrongOpinions leave tonight, and I'll get down to more work. I'm hoping to also fit in a mosque tour, if it can be arranged. The minarets of the mosques are everywhere, in all sizes and designs. In our little nieghborhood, if I turn 360 degrees, I see four within easy walking distance. Islam sees itself as a part of every aspect of life, not a religious practice held apart for a special day. Thus, having so many mosques makes it easier for Muslims to go to prayer at the mosque, where it's easier to do the ritual washing-up, at the five times of day that prayer is required. The university has special prayer rooms for men and women as well.

Enough for now...more later!

How I Know I'm Not Home

...gas is 80 cents a gallon, and the veterinarian advertises his services not only for cats and dogs, but also for horses and camels. Falconry is also very popular here.

It's 7 a.m. on Monday morning and I'm the first one awake in the house. So I'm downstairs in the office visiting with you.

Last night was the Sunday night service at church (http://www.stchcathedral.com.bh/chaplain/qatar.htm). Here's a picture of me with Father Ian . A much quieter and more traditional service than the Friday morning one. The American ambassador was there, with several very large Qatari bodyguards waiting outside. It turns out he and I have several mutual friends from the days when I was a political appointee in a prior administration. As a result of a number of conversations with folks at that service and the Friday one, I'm setting up some meetings with key people in the church to discuss their perceptions of Epiphany and what works there. I suspect that for many the answers to all questions will be "we come because Father Ian has made us so welcome." The congregation includes Anglicans, Episcopalians, Plymouth Brethren, Presbyterians, Covenanters, Baptists, you name it. So I did the reading from Ephesians (nothing like endless participial phrases to keep one on one's toes) and served the chalice at the Eucharist. A baby was born to one family in the congregation, and he will be baptized the day that I'm preaching, so I will be figuring out how to work that into the sermon as well.

This morning we'll probably go to the souq to look at ouds (Syrian lutes) and see if it's possible for StrongOpinions to buy one for the boyfriend, and to pick up some incense for a high-church friend. This afternoon we may go out to the desert. I doubt that I'll ride a camel, but you never know...

Driving in Doha

...is not for the faint of heart. Thirty years ago, people got around primarily via camels (and there is still a camel-racing facility outside of town). Now, with the oil and gas wealth of the past few decades, most folks drive very large SUVs and luxury vehicles. There are few streelights; most major intersections are roundabouts (what some of us know as traffic circles). Entering one is an opportunity for prayer, since aggressive driving is the norm. There are signs at most intersections: "Your family is waiting for you at home. Please drive safely." Although Muslim women are permitted to drive here; they are usually driven around by male relatives or drivers, who epitomize the machismo driving style of other large cities such as Boston or Rome. Waiting for another driver to enter an intersection is unheard of. The problem is compounded by the large presence of foreign guest workers (usually from the Phillipines or Sri Lanka), who may be drivers for a construction company and whose prior driving experience is minimal and driver education nonexistent. There are 10 to 15 accidents per day.

So it was that I ventured onto the B Ring road this morning to meet with Father Ian and plan my work for the next three weeks. PH served as navigator, a particularly challenging task because there are very few road signs ("okay, we go down three roundabouts to the TV roundabout, by Al Jazeera's headquarters, and we go 3/4s of the way around, then turn right, and go right after the Hardee's - yes, there is a Hardee's here - to turn onto Al Mirqaba, then go down to the Family Market, the one with the big neon sign with three check marks and turn right. That's Father Ian's street. His house is on the left, with the flowering wines over the wall. No there's no street number"). Because it was the weekend, and Eid al Ramallah festival, the traffic wasn't too bad. We had a lovely chat with Ian, and I will be preaching on the 19th, and I'll be shadowing him all over the place, including the blanket and food ministry to the guest worker camps, and probably also a trip to the morgue if there are any deaths. He pointed out that the Christians who are here are here to work, so you don't get deaths due to old age and natural causes. Father Ian, as the only Protestant minister recognized by the Qatari government, is often called when such a tragedy occurs to help if there are local relatives, and often when there are not. Should be an interesting education.

I got to participate in a wedding of two Australian nationals today (just the two of them and their two Indian witnesses) in the little chapel that Father Ian has in his little villa. Quite touching. He's the only licensed Protestant clergyperson for weddings, too, so he does a lot fo them.

In the afternoon my sister-in-law, StrongOpinions and I went for stroll along the Corniche, had some chai, and went to the big mall with the hockey rink on the ground level to look for a food processor, then home for a quiet dinner en famille.
















Tomorrow night I'll participate in the Sunday evening informal service. Beyond that, I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring. PH is getting a haircut with his brother, yet another adventure.

Ah, well, enough for today. More to come.

Greetings from Qatar

PH, StrongOpinions and I arrived here late last night. We flew separately (the vagaries of arranging flights at different times, with some coverage by frequent flyer miles, some by a grant from the Seminary, some by Mibi's American Express card. The flights were uneventful, although it is a bit disconcerting knowing one is getting here by flying directly over Baghdad. L and I caught a taxi home to their place, while C waited for PH and StrongOpinions, whose flight from Frankfurt was an hour later than ours.

Since last year, Qatar has hosted the Asian Games, and the amount of new construction for that event, as well as ongoing new construction, is staggering. Towers and construction cranes everywhere you look. We were shocked by surprisingly cold weather - the coldest in memory - and since houses aren't fitted with heating systems, it made for a rather cold night last night. I only brought one fleece top with me, and I'm wishing I'd brought more sweaters.

One sign of the cold weather is the garb of the men, who, instead of wearing their traditional crisp white thobes, are wearing winter-weight grey or brown ones. The women, as always, are head-to-toe in black hijab. Some of the women's robes (called abeyas) are dressed up with sequins and stones in patterns. I saw several butterfly patterns and some gorgeous embroidered flowers. Another variation is in the face scarves (niqab). Some women wear none, some wear a soft black cloth that hooks across and covers the nose and lower half of the face, some wear scarves that merely have slits to see out of, some have an odd metal piece that attaches to the scarf and covers the nose and mouth.

Going to the supermarket is another cultural shift: in addition to chocolate and almond croissants, you can buy savory ones dusted with zaatar, the spice mix of sumac and sesame and oregano and other good things. American foods are in the foreign foods section. In the produce department, okra is labeled as "lady fingers." There are no pork products.

We dined at a favorite Middle Eastern restaurant, Turkey Central. No, there were no turkey dishes; the original owners were from Turkey. Freshly baked lavash and pita bread. Hummus, tabbouleh, baba ganoush, grilled meats, freshly squeezed fruit juices. We had a friendly argument with our waiter over whether to order the 30 rial or 40 rial mezze platter. He won. He was right. The mid-size platter was more than enough.

Then, on to the souqs. These traditional storefront markets were restored in recent years. Walking through them is like going back 2000 years, except for the stores that have small appliances in them. The spice markets are the most wonderful, with open bins of fragrant cinnamon and cardamon and pepper and cumin. I could just sit and take in the aroma for hours.
We got some honey at a store that had different honeys from Ethiopia, Yemen, Oman and Qatar. Pricey but good. We'll see if we can get them through in our checked luggage.

StrongOpinions is feeling jet-lagged and homesick. I'm hoping she'll perk up a bit tomorrow. We're all a bit tired. Eight hours time difference is a challenge.

Because the Muslim weekend is Friday and Saturday, we had church this morning at the english Speaking School. Around 100 attendees from a broad variety of nationalities. A lovely liturgy crafted from elements of the CofE "Our Common Worship" but tweaked to have more biblical references and some features of liturgical traditions of the various nationalities of the people who attend. I'll be meeting with a number of the members as part of my research. I've got meetings tomorrow with Father Ian about my work here - today in church he said something about preaching - oh my!

More to come, hopefully with some pictures. Salaam aleikum!

Waiting

We are getting ready for our trip to the Persian Gulf on Wednesday. Trying to pack for three weeks (including books and knitting) is a challenge.

I did some prep work, including getting the mail held while PH and StrongOpinions are there with me, getting the newspaper stopped, getting Hebrew homework done, getting bills paid. I don't think I've been away from home for this long in many a year (I'm thinking not since 1986 when I did some summer coursework out at Stanford).

StrongOpinions, who's not crazy about planes, is starting to get antsy about the flights. She and PH are on a different itinerary than me, and will have an 8-hour layover in Frankfurt - they'll go into the city and wander around to amuse themselves. Hopefully the melatonin will keep her calmed down. She'll have PH with her, who absolutely adores travel and will keep her calm. I'll be flying through Heathrow and meeting my brother-in-law and sister-in-law in the (ahem) First Class Lounge. 'Twill be nice seeing how the other half lives. I wish I had time on either end to visit my London friends, but that's not happening this trip.

I'm trying to not stress out about getting the independent study work done while there. The priest with whom I'll be working is a dear, but pinning him down is not easy. Yes, I know. all will be well. I'd just like it to be 20 pages of substance, not fluff. Enough whining for now.

A delightful diversion on Sunday: we went to Super-High Anglo-Catholic Church downtown for their 11:15 solemn mass. Beautiful! Great music well done, lots of smells and bells, and a great sermon by (surprise!) my NT professor. I'm not into the High Church thing, but you have to admire the skill with which it was done, and getting to hear the prof preach was a real joy.

I may try to check in once more before I go, and I expect to blog from Qatar...

Post-Christmas Recovery

I spent the day running errands, replenishing the refrigerator (a natural result of having two 20-something young men over for a few days), doing laundry, straightening up. I should be doing my Hebrew homework, since I doubt I'll have time to do it in the Middle East, and I should be doing more preliminary reading for the trip, but it seems like the thing I need to do most is to chill out. It was great having Litigator and StoneMason here (StrongOpinions is still here, since she'll be going with us on the trip.)

My sister-in-law called to give me some logistics. Only one carry-on bag, not to exceed 56 cm x 45 cm x 35 cm. No separate purse (it will need to fit into the carry-on, along with my meds and laptop and book and knitting and make-up). Guess I'm going to have to figure out how to travel a bit lighter than my norm. Of course, it's never clothes, it's always books and such.

I'm sleeping a lot, another natural result of holidays and family and such. I should be working out a lot, given my eating habits over the past week, but I won't worry about it. Yet.

Why Mothers Have Gray Hair

The airborne figure is StoneMason, doing what he loves best, competing on his snowboard.

NEWS FLASH!

Just found out that Princess Granddaughter is going to be a Big Sister. Her little brother or sister will arrive late in July, and will bring my grandkid count up to four. Since Princess Granddaughter is approaching five years old, I had doubted whether they'd have another one, but I guess they need another child to use some of the eight zillion toys PG has or has outgrown...(giggling madly, since I'm responsible for a bunch of them).

Ever so much more fun to talk about than NT exams!

Home Stretch

Survived the Hebrew mid-term today. Survived the Liturgics final and the Old Testament mid-term yesterday. Survived the Church Music take-home final last week. Only the New testament final awaits. Tomorrow morning. All Paul, all the time. Since we have yet to receive ANY of our written work back from this prof - didn't get our mid-term back either - we are all shooting in the dark in rpeparing for this examination. If I didn't love his lectures so much, I'd really be ticked.

I've worked with a wonderful study group on this material, but I still feel somewhat lost on preparing for it. The possible essay questions are so broad-ranging I hardly know where to begin. Oh, well, in another day it will all be past me, and then I'll be on to the next thing.

On a less stressful note, I've got all the gifts wrapped except for the hom-knit ones, and I'll get the last of them done within 48 hours (Litigator's skullcap). I think I am ready for a rest.

Then again, the Hebrew prof gave us homework...

Global Warming, or at least Local Warming

It will be in the mid-70's today in Your Nation's Capital. About 30 degrees higher than normal. My pocketbook likes it - lower heating bill - but my daffodil bulbs are way confused and all my non-winter clothes are stored away. Mebbe I should go naked....

No.

Never mind.

Bad idea.

It would scare horses and small children.

Back to studying...

My weekend with no one (well, not quite)...

Done this weekend:

1) outlined Genesis and Exodus in preparation for the OT exam. Still working on Leviticus. How much of it have I retained? I haven't a clue.

2) reviewed 500 Hebrew words, 5 different conjugations or paradigms, rules for all sorts of Hebrew grammar. How much of it have I retained? I haven't a clue.

3) did an analysis of Romans for my NT study group and organized and shared my class notes with my fellow students. How much of it have I retained? I haven't a clue.

4) organized all my materials for my open-book liturgics exam (I'll re-read the key articles tomorrow night). How much of it have I retained? I haven't a clue.

5) noted with sadness the decision by several Episcopal churches in my diocese to leave ECUSA to become part of the Church of Nigeria. Does this mean the end of ECUSA? Hardly. Does this mean the end of the debate? Hardly, but dialogue is better than picking up one's marbles and walking away. Jesus weeps.

6) started my new icon - turns out I'll be doing Saint Matthew, since I couldn't find a model icon for Sophia that spoke to me. It was soothing to pray and work on this project, although I won't put my hands on it again until mid-February after my research trip to the Persian Gulf, diocesan council and class retreat. I'll miss working on it. I had hoped my Saint Peter would be back - my teacher is varnishing it now - but he wasn't quite ready yet. I'll see him when I get back from my travels.

7) finished the first Woodsman Sock for StoneMason, and am periodically taking a break from studying to knit Sock Number Two, which I expect will be done in a day or two. Feels good to do something tactile and finite. I'm going to try and get a skullcap done for Litigator by Christmas...it'll be tight. I'd like to give something knitted to each kid (made a shawl/scarf thing for StrongOpinions already).

8) did four loads of laundry. How do we get so many things dirty in the course of a week?

9) went to a former Senior Warden's party. Good to be with friends, but the introvert in me can only take so much of that before I want to go for a walk in the woods, or take a nap.

10) visited a potential Field Ed site that I really liked. I'll talk with the vicar again at diocesan council.

Our OT professor, noting our jumpiness last week, said, "You know, you wouldn't be here if God didn't want you to be here, and God will help you. You know more than you think you do. Trust the Spirit." Wise words. I need to keep saying them to myself at least 2000 more times until Thursday noon, when the exams are done.

PH has been a prince, cooking for me. I am blessed!

I covet your prayers for this coming week, for focus, calm, and good memory.

Coming Up For Air One of These Days

I sang as soprano soloist at another Messiah last night, this one at the home parish. I'm hip deep in finishing the semester. Last session of the Liturgical Music class this evening, along with prep for the online exam. The Hebrew prof is driving us full throttle so we get through Chapter 15 before the final (gack). Piel verb forms. We finished the Pauline corpus in NT, and tomorrow we tackle more OT (scary looking forward toward THAT test). Last Liturgics class and practicum tomorrow (another exam that fills me with dread). Plus I've got to work on the study notes for my study group on Romans. Seems I'm the only one in the group who actually read the book that the prof assigned for Romans...

So I got back a small paper - one-pager - from the OT prof, who felt I should have gone deeper, and gave me a 3 out of 5. Gee whiz, how deep can you go on a one-page paper? 'Twas a small comfort that the others in the class also got 3's. The next paper for her is due tomorrow. Suffice to say it is three pages.

Five exams await, two online. I know I will survive, but it will be a busy week and a half. Plus I'm interviewing for a CPE placement on Wednesday. Plus I've been visiting different churches every Sunday scoping out potential Field ed placements for next year.

I think I need chocolate.

Or Valium.

At least I got my icon of Saint Peter done on Saturday. If Irena gets it varnished for me by next week, I'll take a picture and post it for you. He came out better than I thought he would. Saint Matthew will be next.

Knitting when I've got a moment here or there. Another pair of socks (probably for strong Opinions) will be done by tomorrow; then I'll start a pair of heavyweight socks for Stonemason, who's working this winter on chimney repairs in the North Country.

Maybe Thorazine.

Or sleep.

Whatcha think?

Ah, Saturday Night!

We did reasonably well at our Seminary Choir Messiah sing-along last night. It was a full house in the chapel. My singing of the soprano solos was well-received. Given that the other soloists were our choir director ( a tenor with an international reputation in his younger days as a specialist in early music) and two young people with vocal performance degrees from two of the best conservatories in the country, I was grateful to have not embarrassed myself. It was somewhat disconcerting to look up and see several of my professors in the audience. . .

Today was a whirlwind of various and sundry errands, but I got to icon-writing in the midst of it. St. Peter is two or three weeks away from being done. I'll post a pic of him when he's finished. I'd like to get him done before I go to the Middle East for January term and my independent study project. I'm trying to decide which icon I'll do next. I'd like to do a St Paul, but I'm also intrigued by the possibility of doing a Sophia. We shall see.

I was pleased to finish phase two of my NT exegesis paper. This part was word study. I was grateful to have studied Greek before getting to seminary - it made the research much more understandable. it was supposed to be five pages, but I barely kept the text of the paper to eight. It actually was something of a gas to do. Am tunring into an exegesis geek?

I'm up ten pounds since I started seminary, whch is annoying. It's mostly due to a lack of exercise. I'm lucky to get seven hours of sleep, much less add in 30-40 minutes of exercise. I suppose I should make the time. I'm not able to get all of the reams of reading assignments done (I'm not alone amongst my classmates in that regard) so it feels strange to be thinking of trying to fit exercise in as well.

I got brave and went to Costco for some household odds'n'ends, plus winter socks for StrongOpinions out in the cold and snow of Colorado, and gifts for the grandbabies. The crowds were not too bad, and I got out without buying anything stupid or ridiculously self-indulgent. I even got StrongOpinions' package mailed (including rolls of quarters for the laundromat - why she can't get to the bank herself, I don't know, but that aspect of living on her own hasn't quite settled yet).

Short ribs are braising on the stove, and I'm just about ready to crash for the night. Tomorrow I'll go check out another possible field ed site, and in the evening go to a showing of "The Ten Commandments." Believe it or not, it's an assignment for my OT class...

...and maybe somewhere in there, my dear usband and I will get to actually sit and talk to each other. What a concept!

Knitting Again - Yay!

Having finished the shawl/scarf for StrongOpinions while in Windy City, I have started a pair of socks. Feels good to be knitting again...I just have a couple of papers to complete this week that may interrupt the knitting fiesta. Dang!

Windy City Adventures

Thanksgiving. Wow.

Way too much food, especially of the carb-laden variety. My mother-in-law made the food extravanganza yesterday, while some of my generation and some of the littler ones went downtown to watch the parade. The Lawn Chair Dads precision lawn-chair drill team was the high point. They wore red union suits with sleeveless t-shirts and print boxer shorts over them, furry arctic bomber hats with earflaps, and black socks and sandals. Truly a sight to behold. We kept ourselves warm with a thermos of coffee for adults and of hot chocolate for the kids. I was surprised by the number of vendors giving out freebies (Naked Juice, for example, and free porta-potties with 7-11 logos plastered all over them!) Great fun, and not overly cold for Windy City on Thanksgiving.

I should have gone out walking each morning, but didn't. The jeans are definitely feeling snug.

I've got a pot of turkey wild rice vegetable soup on the stove, to get the last bits of flavor out of the carcass, and to give us something a little lighter on the digestive system for supper. There's also a butternut squash soup in the works. My veterinarian brother-in-law (a man of many talents) has a pumpkin cheesecake in the oven.

We went down to the great big art museum today. No icons per se, but some early Italian religious images in tempera on board that clearly were influenced by them. I successfully avoided buying stuff in the museum store. I did fall victim to a great buy on a Norwegian sweater in the store for all things Swedish. Here's the advantage to being short - you can fit into kid's size clothes sometimes. And a kid's Norwegian sweater is one-third the price of a grown-up one. And I never knit something for myself - I only knit for others, so I have to buy for myself (poor me!).

Speaking of knitting, I'm slowly getting back into it. Hadn't knit a thing since August when I started seminary. But StrongOpinions had asked for a combination shawl/scarf thing, and I saw some great bulky yarn, so I whipped that off. I should get back into gear on my sister-in-law's Norse sweater (it's about 1/2 done). I had planned to give it to her for this Christmas, but I'm afraid she'll get it next Christmas. Ah, well. It feels good to be knitting again, though.

Tomorrow we'll get up, have a bite, and head to the airport and back home to Your Nation's Capital. It's good to be with family, but it's also good to be home.

So where are you?

News update on break-ups, mess-ups, and speak-ups

On the breakup of StrongOpinions and Semi-Useless Boyfriend:
I was worried about my girl, so I cashed in some frequent flyer miles, went out to Buddhist University last weekend and made sure she was eating and such. I took her out to eat a couple of times, made a batch of vegetarian chili and put it in the freezer, adn took her for some retail therapy. she seems to be doing better. SUB called last week, though, and wanted to get back together. SO is appropriately skeptical. I'm hoping she decides it's over once and for all, but mothers can't push about such things. She can do better, though.

On the Congress:
No sooner did Nancy Pelosi ascend to the Speakership than she tripped over her (very chic) Armani pantsuit and backed Jack Murtha for her second in command. The predictable result was that he lost, and her former rival, Steny Hoyer, won. An embarrassment, since she expended much political capital trying to get her candidate the job. She should have done better, but I'm still hoping she can do better.

On ECUSA:
Our new Presiding Bishop, Katharine, sent a very crisp letter (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_79844_ENG_HTM.htm) to a bishop who, unhappy about the past 30+ years of ECUSA's decisions, was threatening to pull his whole diocese out of the church. It was the letter I was hoping someone, somehow, someday would write. Finally! She has done better, and I'm proud. You go, girl!

On school:
I am busily writing, and reading, and translating, and memorizing. I'm trying to NOT feel guilty about going to PH's family in the Windy City for Thanksgiving. Rationally I know I cannot get it all done, even if I stay home chained to the books and the computer, but irrationally, I worry. (mumbling to myself: "all will be well, all will be well...")

I will do better at managing my own expectations of myself.

Eventually.

(And you blog-lurkers, c'mon and check in with me. I love to know you're there reading my pithy prose.)

Gray Day

It's wet, the leaves are mostly on the ground, and I'm tired.

StrongOpinions and Semi-Useless Boyfriend broke up yesterday (his idea), and I've been fielding calls from far away from her as she deals with the pain. She called last night at 2:30 am. I am not at my best at 2:30 am (who is?) so I tried to comfort her and get her to sleep. More similar calls during school today. It's so hard when you lose your first love.

I managed to stay awake in classes today. Barely. I hope I'll get a full night's sleep tonight.

I'm feeling swamped by the amount of reading the profs are expecting this semester, but I think I'll survive. The good news is that Hebrew is such a gas that I end up doing more work than required since it's so amazing.

The other good news was the changeover in the House of Representatives - I'm not fond of one-party government. The bad news was the passage of a marriage bill in our state - marriage defined as one man and one woman - that seems to be legislation at its worst. It's mean-spirited, it has a number of unintended consequences not only for gay couples but for straight couples who are not married, and it does nothing to help the body politic.

Don't these folks have more important things to worry about?

Meanwhile, our bishop left this hospital this morning - they thought he might have had a little stroke, but he is doing fine. He doesn't have an easy job, and he does it with grace. I'm hoping this was just a blip on the radar screen.

I had to take the car to the body shop this afternoon after school. It was parked on the street in front of our house, and someone backed into the side of it and scraped the whole driver's side. It goes without saying that the guilty party didn't leave a note on my car. $1725 worth of damage. Thank goodness for insurance.

Yes, I know the good news items outnumber the bad news items. It's still a cold rainy gray day, though. Now if the Secretary of State of the Commonwealth would just certify that Jim Webb has beaten George Allen, I think I'd feel like the sun has come out.

The Investiture and Seating, and Why I Don't Like Liturgical Dance

On Saturday, I watched the investiture of our new Presiding Bishop, the incomparable Katharine Jefferts Schori, on my computer. We were supposed to watch it at Big Old Seminary on a big screen, but the technology failed us. That's fine, because my house is only five minutes away, and the service was two hours long. You can check it out here if you'd like:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/investiture/

It was marvelous. Amazing music across many different cultures (you haven't lived until you've seen a couple hundred bishops - mostly WASP - in chimeres and rochets and all that, bopping to Siyahamba), beautiful liturgy, great sermon.

And then there were the liturgical dancers. I am admittedly a curmudgeon, but I just don't get a bunch of people running around whipping pieces of cloth in the air. None of these folks were Baryshnikov or Twyla Tharp by any stretch of the imagination. It all seems a bit forced to me. Maybe the more visually oriented people can explain what I'm missing, but it seems too 70s for words. I lived in the 70s the first time around, and it wasn't any more attractive then.

I could have done with something with a bit more gravitas than the tie-dyed look vestments (I'm turning intoPeaceBang) but other than that, it was wonderful. Very moving, and the sermon was powerful.

Then on Sunday, I went down to the Cathedral for her seating and Eucharist. Several fellow seminarians were part of it, and a number of us were among the congregation. Another amazing event, with many of the same features as the investiture (including the dancers, darnit) - it was great to see and feel it from another angle. Many of us were moved to tears by the import of it. Who'd have thought even 20 years ago that we'd see this moment?

God grant her strength for the time to come. It won't be easy.

Both ends of the spectrum

I got back my Hebrew final...

(drum roll, please)

97.7

Now you know exactly how geeky the prof is, that I ended up with a grade like that.

I got an A for the semester, since we started in August term. glad; it was hard work, and i loved it. Still, I'm taking the second semester pass-fail, since it will only get crazier.

I did my Liturgics mid-term. Sixteen questions, multiple choice, open book. A half-hour to take it.

Piece of cake, right?

Not.

Only two questions referenced what was covered in the lectures. The rest were obscure factoids from the readings, and we're talking obscure here, not the main themes.

My grade? 75. And I was grateful to get that, given what some of my classmates got.

This was a lesson in humility. Also in not getting too wrapped up in the grade thing. It's about the skills and about grace, and not about a number. I need reminding of that on a regular basis.

As for the other exams and papers, none have yet been returned. Another lesson: patience. Drat.

PH is off at a conference this weekend, so the cats and I are alone in the house. I have gotten a few movies from Blockbuster, and I intend to do studying/reading/homework and videowatching. Tomorrow at 11 I'll join a bunch of fellow seminarians in one of our auditoriums to watch the investiture of our new Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori. Sunday, a number of us will go to the Washington National Cathedral for her seating. I am thrilled!