Happenings
Well, I've just had the most lovely day! (British people say 'lovely' a lot, by the way, at least those I've met) Yesterday I went to a meeting of the Christian Union on campus, a Christian organization which, believe it or not, is affiliated with International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, which Intervarsity is affiliated with. The meeting was cool -- it actually was spookily similar to Lighthouse -- we sang one song in common with Lighthouse, and two that I didn't know. The font on the powerpoint slides was even identical. There were about twice as many people there as are at Lighthouse large group, and it was held in a lecture hall. The speaker had fallen ill, so we discussed Psalm 23 in small groups, then shared our answers. I met a student there named Cat and she actually invited me to come to church with her, York Evangelical Church.
The service was fine, although I wasn't able to find anything with their doctrinal beliefs listed, and it is a very small church. They did have something nice called "hospitality" set up in which several church families invite college students over to their house for lunch and to spend the afternoon with them before going to the evening service. In total, it means that you would spend the entire day either at church or with people from church, and depending on who you were with, it could be really nice, and especially would be a good way to practice the sabbath (something my suite will be familiar with). I ended up going to a house full of York students, who cooked us lasagna, gave us copious amounts of tea and hot chocolate, and chocolate spread on toast (a british specialty, I'm told).
So anyway, everyone was as friendly as could be, and it was nice to meet some british people my own age, and Christians at that. I really feel like this is something that God has provided, although I don't know yet if it's where I'm meant to stay, in terms of friends. I'm planning on going to the bible study in Halifax on Wednesday, which is a part of this same group, so we'll see how that goes.
In other matters, I'm actually getting to read for pleasure!!!! Yes, for the first time in what feels like years. I've been reading The Cat Who Brought Down the House -- I feel like it transports me back to american culture while I'm reading it, I feel so starved for that sometimes, or at least just the voice of someone with an American accent. I'm also listening to a British book on CD called Tuscan Soup while I knit. It is extremely british, written by an ex-director of Coronation Street, a popular soap opera here. It's funny, I'm able to listen to the dialogue of the characters and go, "Hey, I know what that means!" and know that I wouldn't have known a month ago. I feel like it's a study in my cultural adjustment. It's also helping me pick out more subtle differences in speech patterns and intonation between the english and americans, which has become a hobby of mine. Maybe someday I'll post my list. Anyway, yay for the local library.
Oh yes, and there are two American characters in Tuscan Soup, and the narrator put on such a good American accent when she read their dialogue! It was surreal! Well, it wasn't perfect -- the americans talked slowly, distinctly and very clearly, pronouncing each syllable, and didn't have a lot of emotion or intonation in their voices. And she pronounced several words in the english fashion -- for example, saying de-cade instead of dec-ade, pries-tess and by emphasizing the t's like not-tat-tall for "not at all". Obviously americans don't say "not tat tall" like the english but she still did a superb (or brilliant as the english would say) job.
I get to go see Tina and Trevor in two weeks!!!! I'm so excited!!! Wow, it's going to be really weird to see anyone from home, it's been so long...
One thing that living abroad really has made me think about is my view of American culture as normal. In the back of my mind, half consciously, I think to myself, "back home, where it's normal, things are different" or something of that sort. "Back where things are normal, they don't call guys blokes," etc. I guess it means, to me, America is the way that life should be, the way everything would revert to be, the natural state of being. Which of course is absolutely completely wrong. But at least I have an open enough mind to think about these things. That's part of why I'm here, after all, right?
I'm still kinda homesick... or getting a little brit-sick, I don't know... It'll pass soon. Apologies for the extra long entry.
________
British word of the day: Quid -- slang for pound, equivalent to American 'buck'
Shamelessly stolen from emryssa
The service was fine, although I wasn't able to find anything with their doctrinal beliefs listed, and it is a very small church. They did have something nice called "hospitality" set up in which several church families invite college students over to their house for lunch and to spend the afternoon with them before going to the evening service. In total, it means that you would spend the entire day either at church or with people from church, and depending on who you were with, it could be really nice, and especially would be a good way to practice the sabbath (something my suite will be familiar with). I ended up going to a house full of York students, who cooked us lasagna, gave us copious amounts of tea and hot chocolate, and chocolate spread on toast (a british specialty, I'm told).
So anyway, everyone was as friendly as could be, and it was nice to meet some british people my own age, and Christians at that. I really feel like this is something that God has provided, although I don't know yet if it's where I'm meant to stay, in terms of friends. I'm planning on going to the bible study in Halifax on Wednesday, which is a part of this same group, so we'll see how that goes.
In other matters, I'm actually getting to read for pleasure!!!! Yes, for the first time in what feels like years. I've been reading The Cat Who Brought Down the House -- I feel like it transports me back to american culture while I'm reading it, I feel so starved for that sometimes, or at least just the voice of someone with an American accent. I'm also listening to a British book on CD called Tuscan Soup while I knit. It is extremely british, written by an ex-director of Coronation Street, a popular soap opera here. It's funny, I'm able to listen to the dialogue of the characters and go, "Hey, I know what that means!" and know that I wouldn't have known a month ago. I feel like it's a study in my cultural adjustment. It's also helping me pick out more subtle differences in speech patterns and intonation between the english and americans, which has become a hobby of mine. Maybe someday I'll post my list. Anyway, yay for the local library.
Oh yes, and there are two American characters in Tuscan Soup, and the narrator put on such a good American accent when she read their dialogue! It was surreal! Well, it wasn't perfect -- the americans talked slowly, distinctly and very clearly, pronouncing each syllable, and didn't have a lot of emotion or intonation in their voices. And she pronounced several words in the english fashion -- for example, saying de-cade instead of dec-ade, pries-tess and by emphasizing the t's like not-tat-tall for "not at all". Obviously americans don't say "not tat tall" like the english but she still did a superb (or brilliant as the english would say) job.
I get to go see Tina and Trevor in two weeks!!!! I'm so excited!!! Wow, it's going to be really weird to see anyone from home, it's been so long...
One thing that living abroad really has made me think about is my view of American culture as normal. In the back of my mind, half consciously, I think to myself, "back home, where it's normal, things are different" or something of that sort. "Back where things are normal, they don't call guys blokes," etc. I guess it means, to me, America is the way that life should be, the way everything would revert to be, the natural state of being. Which of course is absolutely completely wrong. But at least I have an open enough mind to think about these things. That's part of why I'm here, after all, right?
I'm still kinda homesick... or getting a little brit-sick, I don't know... It'll pass soon. Apologies for the extra long entry.
________
British word of the day: Quid -- slang for pound, equivalent to American 'buck'
Shamelessly stolen from emryssa