Fri - April 29, 2005
You may be wondering....
Hello
friends,
Those of you who have been looking back from time to time to see whether this blog gets updated (yes, Kevin and Gus.... I know!) would have been wondering what happened to the rest of my trip to the US and UK.
The rest of the trip did indeed take place, and it was an absolutely wonderful time. It has stretched my boundaries and given me such a wonderful perspective on the world and, of course, the wider Christian church. It has also allowed me to make some truly significant connections within the academic community.
The last two weeks of my trip were quite busy, which meant that I did not have time to record the interactions and events here. I have kept a record of them and hope to be able to do some of that tonight.
In the meantime here are two photographs. The first one is of Bishop Peter Storey, Rev Tiffney Marley, Archbishop Ndungane and myself at the Martin Luther King Jr lecture series that I participated in at Duke Divinity school in North Carolina. The second photograph is of Prof Mark Fowler, his wonderful wife Susan and I in Chicago (what a city!!!!).
Those of you who have been looking back from time to time to see whether this blog gets updated (yes, Kevin and Gus.... I know!) would have been wondering what happened to the rest of my trip to the US and UK.
The rest of the trip did indeed take place, and it was an absolutely wonderful time. It has stretched my boundaries and given me such a wonderful perspective on the world and, of course, the wider Christian church. It has also allowed me to make some truly significant connections within the academic community.
The last two weeks of my trip were quite busy, which meant that I did not have time to record the interactions and events here. I have kept a record of them and hope to be able to do some of that tonight.
In the meantime here are two photographs. The first one is of Bishop Peter Storey, Rev Tiffney Marley, Archbishop Ndungane and myself at the Martin Luther King Jr lecture series that I participated in at Duke Divinity school in North Carolina. The second photograph is of Prof Mark Fowler, his wonderful wife Susan and I in Chicago (what a city!!!!).
Posted at 08:10 AM Read More
Thu - March 31, 2005
Chicago to Duke.
My last entry ended with me flying to Chicago. The
flight was great. Although since we flew in daylight the whole time I did not
manage to sleep at all. The scenery out of the window was incredible though!
We flew over both Greenland and Canada - I have never so much snow in all my
life!!!
Arriving in Chicago was fantastic. O'Hare is truly all it is cracked up to be! Security at American Airports is as tight as I was lead to believe. It took me about an hour and a half to get through immigration, get my bags, get through security and make my way by train to the local flight terminal.
I waited around at O'Hare to catch my connecting flight to Raleigh and the moved on to Durham. When I arrived on Monday evening it was about 20h30 here in Durham. However, since I had flown across a few time zones, and had awoken at 6 am on the same day in the UK, I was exhausted. On my body's clock it was 3h30 AM... Needless to say I am catching up on my jet lag sleep whenever I get a chance.
On my first day (Tuesday) at Duke, I was collected by Rev Tiffney Marley. She has been so incredibly hospitable to me! In the morning she showed me around the awesome facilities of Duke University and the Divinity school. The Duke Chapel is an awe inspiring structure! The Divinity school has resources that I could never have imagined. Thus far I have had the wonderful opportunity to be engaged in a few important activities.
I attend daily chapel services in York chapel (although today's service was held in the incredible Duke Chapel). I meet with academic staff (I have met Dr Stanley Hauerwas, Dr Wainwright, Dr Chapman, Dr Storey, Dr Crenshaw, Dr Warner, Dr Emily Davis, Dr Katanga and the incredible Dr Willie Jennings). I have had the wonderful privilege to sit in on a number of lectures and classes. Dr Storey gave an incredible lecture on Peace and the local Church. I also had the wonderful privilege of having dinner with Peter and Elizabeth, and two of their friends Clay and Sarah, at their home last night. Dr Willie Jennings has also inspired me with his views on culture and land in relation to the development of the black Church in White American Christianity.
In a few moments I will be having lunch with Dean Jones, the Dean of the Divinity School, and his wife Susan.
One other significant encounter I have had here is with a visiting Pastor, Danny Wayman, from Houston Texas. He came to meet Peter Storey
Please forgive me if the above is a bit skant and bland! I hope to have the time to sit in quiet and think not only about the visits, but the significance and effects of these visits, in due course. However, I find it necessary to record my experiences and thoughts fairly quickly. Since I am a person who lives in the moment I very quickly forget things unless I write them down.
A final joy has been the fact that I have wireless internet access at both Duke and Homestead Suites Hotel where I am staying. This has meant that I have been able to have Skype chats with Megie and Courtney daily (they normally phone me at about midnight Durham time - which is about 6 am at home). I then try to phone them at about 7 or 8 am Durham time (which is either 1 or 2 PM at home in Pretoria). I also managed to do an iChat Video conference with them yesterday for a few minutes. I cannot use iChat at the Homestead Suites because they are behind a firewall. However, at Duke I can. The problem is that I am so busy here that I am not able to get to make the calls during reasonable hours to home. However, voice is such a blessing! I remember a time when the only contact I had with Megie and Courtney was via Cell phone text messages!
One last note. Yesterday was the opening of John Wesley College after the Easter Break. I must confess that I miss not being there! I love my job and teaching and I pray that the students all arrived back safely and are sufficiently rested to tackle the new term with energy and commitment.
I hope to be able to write a few things about my experiences with Ross Olivier in Jackson Mississippi over the weekend on the journey back from Jackson. So, do check back early next week!
Arriving in Chicago was fantastic. O'Hare is truly all it is cracked up to be! Security at American Airports is as tight as I was lead to believe. It took me about an hour and a half to get through immigration, get my bags, get through security and make my way by train to the local flight terminal.
I waited around at O'Hare to catch my connecting flight to Raleigh and the moved on to Durham. When I arrived on Monday evening it was about 20h30 here in Durham. However, since I had flown across a few time zones, and had awoken at 6 am on the same day in the UK, I was exhausted. On my body's clock it was 3h30 AM... Needless to say I am catching up on my jet lag sleep whenever I get a chance.
On my first day (Tuesday) at Duke, I was collected by Rev Tiffney Marley. She has been so incredibly hospitable to me! In the morning she showed me around the awesome facilities of Duke University and the Divinity school. The Duke Chapel is an awe inspiring structure! The Divinity school has resources that I could never have imagined. Thus far I have had the wonderful opportunity to be engaged in a few important activities.
I attend daily chapel services in York chapel (although today's service was held in the incredible Duke Chapel). I meet with academic staff (I have met Dr Stanley Hauerwas, Dr Wainwright, Dr Chapman, Dr Storey, Dr Crenshaw, Dr Warner, Dr Emily Davis, Dr Katanga and the incredible Dr Willie Jennings). I have had the wonderful privilege to sit in on a number of lectures and classes. Dr Storey gave an incredible lecture on Peace and the local Church. I also had the wonderful privilege of having dinner with Peter and Elizabeth, and two of their friends Clay and Sarah, at their home last night. Dr Willie Jennings has also inspired me with his views on culture and land in relation to the development of the black Church in White American Christianity.
In a few moments I will be having lunch with Dean Jones, the Dean of the Divinity School, and his wife Susan.
One other significant encounter I have had here is with a visiting Pastor, Danny Wayman, from Houston Texas. He came to meet Peter Storey
Please forgive me if the above is a bit skant and bland! I hope to have the time to sit in quiet and think not only about the visits, but the significance and effects of these visits, in due course. However, I find it necessary to record my experiences and thoughts fairly quickly. Since I am a person who lives in the moment I very quickly forget things unless I write them down.
A final joy has been the fact that I have wireless internet access at both Duke and Homestead Suites Hotel where I am staying. This has meant that I have been able to have Skype chats with Megie and Courtney daily (they normally phone me at about midnight Durham time - which is about 6 am at home). I then try to phone them at about 7 or 8 am Durham time (which is either 1 or 2 PM at home in Pretoria). I also managed to do an iChat Video conference with them yesterday for a few minutes. I cannot use iChat at the Homestead Suites because they are behind a firewall. However, at Duke I can. The problem is that I am so busy here that I am not able to get to make the calls during reasonable hours to home. However, voice is such a blessing! I remember a time when the only contact I had with Megie and Courtney was via Cell phone text messages!
One last note. Yesterday was the opening of John Wesley College after the Easter Break. I must confess that I miss not being there! I love my job and teaching and I pray that the students all arrived back safely and are sufficiently rested to tackle the new term with energy and commitment.
I hope to be able to write a few things about my experiences with Ross Olivier in Jackson Mississippi over the weekend on the journey back from Jackson. So, do check back early next week!
Posted at 11:59 AM Read More
Mon - March 28, 2005
More of London and then off to Chicago!
I write this entry with a heavy heart... I am
sitting in Heathrow Airport... Wait, I'm back. I am now on the flight. As I
was writing that last sentence the boarding announcement came over the air, so I
quickly packed up.
It was sad saying goodbye to Megie and Courtney this morning. The thought that I will be spending 20 days away from them is not pleasant at all. However, it is some consolation to know that we had the last week together. I will say a bit more about the fantastic experiences we shared in a minute. Also, I am so pleased that Megie will be starting her new job as the Head of Department at Damelin's school of Business Management in Hatfield, Pretoria.
If you are reading this why not say a little prayer for my two girls?
Right, now let's move on to the last few days in London.
When last I wrote we were still at Craig in Worcester Park. When I got back from Cambridge I met Megie and Courts at Craig's place, dropped my bags and we went straight back to London's Waterloo Station. The station itself is incredible! It is huge with thousands of people in transit to some destination or another (there are trains, the Eurorail to France and beyond leaves from there, and then of course there is the famous London Underground). It is quite a struggle to remember what we did that afternoon. We have done so much that everything seems to blur into one awesome experience! Let me just have a quick peek at my Photos in iPhoto to see where we went...
Aaahh yes. We didn't in fact go all the way to Waterloo. Rather, we went as far as Wimbledon, the home of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis tournament. Wimbledon seems to be inhabited by a large number of South Africans. We spent most of our time there just reconnecting with each other, looking at all the shops on the High street, and then we ended the evening with a movie at the Odeon Cinema. We watched the animated film 'Robots'. It was fantastic to do that with Megie and Courts. We got back to Craig's place after catching a 9pm South West train.
On Thursday morning we woke up, did some washing (thanks Megie!!!) and then made our way into 'Londres'!!! We didn't get too early a start, so it meant that we only really spent the afternoon and early evening in London. We caught a Tube to Oxford Circus and then made our way up to Carnaby street. Having been something of a 'Mod' in my younger years, it was great to see the sights and shops mentioned in the songs of 'The Jam' and other Mod bands. There were a few Mod shops around (Merc, Lambretta etc.). After Carnaby street we went to Hamleys! Wow, what a fantastic experience. Hamleys is a 5 level toy store! Courtney just loved it! On the 'girls' floor (level 3) they were making teddy bears. Basically one chooses a bear of some sorts (she in fact chose a pink Unicorn!) then you take it to be filled with stuffing. On the way you find a 'voice box', which activates when you squeeze it, choose a heart and then have your animal of choice sewn up. Courtney's Unicorn is called Cinderella and has the voice box of a sheep (there were no unicorn voice boxes available!)
After that we made our way further along the road to the Apple flagship store!!! What an incredible experience! it is HUGE! Megie went off to find us something to eat while I browsed around, hooked my Powerbook up to the open wireless network, and Courtney played a Barbie game on a free eMac. When we left the store I added another gadget to my Mac arsenal, a 512MB iPod shuffle!! It is great.
That evening we met Megie's cousin Richard at Waterloo and went along to Twickenham for dinner with Richard, his wife Karyn and their friend Amon. Craig joined us after work. It was such a memorable evening!
We caught the last train from Twickenham to Clapham Junction, and got back to Worcester Park at 01h30!!
On Good Friday we awoke rather late, packed up our things and hoped on the train to catch a Tube to Richard and Michelle at Ealing Broadway. It was quite a job getting around with my 25KG' of luggage and Megie and Courtney's 12KG bag! However, it was worth it to get to our friends Richard and Michelle! I have missed them both so much since leaving Somerset West. I often long for those care free days when I was doing my Doctorate and Richard was the youth pastor at Coronation Ave Methodist Church.
Richie and Mich took us to their lovely home in Ealing. As is to be expected their place is stunning! Rich and Mich have such a wonderful sense of class and style. They were incredibly generous to have us stay with them ('squatting' in their lounge) for 3 nights!
On Friday evening we took a nice long walk around the area in which Richard works (London SW1). It is SO posh! We ended up at the Natural History Museum which was incredible to behold. I have never before seen quite so incredible a collection of fossils and dinosaur remains. The T-Rex exhibition was the highlight. Of course, Courtney loved the exhibition. Moreover, the attention she got from Richard and Michelle was lapped up!
On Saturday morning we drove back in to London and Richard and Michelle treated us to an open bus tour of London's sights. We saw EVERYTHING!! A real highlight was a boat trip along the River Thames. Our guide was hilarious. The 30 minute trip from London Bridge to the London eye was incredible. London is a wonderful city. I would so love to live in the city. However, I do realize that it is not an ideal environment in which to raise a child. However, the cosmopolitan nature and pace were truly invigorating.
We ended in the evening by meeting our friend Ulric Gordon at Buckingham Palace and going for a walk in incredible parks and gardens. It was freezing!
Sunday morning was a real highlight for me. We awoke early and went with Richard and Michelle to the Holy Trinity Brompton Church of England Easter Sunday service. Sandy Millard preached and did communion. Whilst nothing in particular stood out for me, it was just such a special time to reconnect with God, remember the wonderful loving sacrifice of Christ and reaffirm my call to ministry. The last number of months have been particularly tough and stressful for me. This service was a healing time.
After the service we drove out to the country. We met our friends Bryan Johannsen and his girlfriend Alix at Windsor Castle and then spent most of the day walking through, and taking in, the grounds and interior of the castle. When we finished there we took a wonderful drive through Maidenhead (I got to see where Richard ministered and where they lived) and then on to Henley and Marlow etc.
That brings us to today. I can hardly believe how much we have done in such a short time. Indeed, this was a family experience of a lifetime! I will miss my girls, but I'm on my way to another completely new experience. I am SO excited about going to America. My hosts have been so generous and gracious already! I hope to be able to offer something worthwhile in return.
Well, check back again. I'm not sure how often I will have internet access, or how much time I will have to write. I hope to update with news and experiences as often as I can.
It was sad saying goodbye to Megie and Courtney this morning. The thought that I will be spending 20 days away from them is not pleasant at all. However, it is some consolation to know that we had the last week together. I will say a bit more about the fantastic experiences we shared in a minute. Also, I am so pleased that Megie will be starting her new job as the Head of Department at Damelin's school of Business Management in Hatfield, Pretoria.
If you are reading this why not say a little prayer for my two girls?
Right, now let's move on to the last few days in London.
When last I wrote we were still at Craig in Worcester Park. When I got back from Cambridge I met Megie and Courts at Craig's place, dropped my bags and we went straight back to London's Waterloo Station. The station itself is incredible! It is huge with thousands of people in transit to some destination or another (there are trains, the Eurorail to France and beyond leaves from there, and then of course there is the famous London Underground). It is quite a struggle to remember what we did that afternoon. We have done so much that everything seems to blur into one awesome experience! Let me just have a quick peek at my Photos in iPhoto to see where we went...
Aaahh yes. We didn't in fact go all the way to Waterloo. Rather, we went as far as Wimbledon, the home of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis tournament. Wimbledon seems to be inhabited by a large number of South Africans. We spent most of our time there just reconnecting with each other, looking at all the shops on the High street, and then we ended the evening with a movie at the Odeon Cinema. We watched the animated film 'Robots'. It was fantastic to do that with Megie and Courts. We got back to Craig's place after catching a 9pm South West train.
On Thursday morning we woke up, did some washing (thanks Megie!!!) and then made our way into 'Londres'!!! We didn't get too early a start, so it meant that we only really spent the afternoon and early evening in London. We caught a Tube to Oxford Circus and then made our way up to Carnaby street. Having been something of a 'Mod' in my younger years, it was great to see the sights and shops mentioned in the songs of 'The Jam' and other Mod bands. There were a few Mod shops around (Merc, Lambretta etc.). After Carnaby street we went to Hamleys! Wow, what a fantastic experience. Hamleys is a 5 level toy store! Courtney just loved it! On the 'girls' floor (level 3) they were making teddy bears. Basically one chooses a bear of some sorts (she in fact chose a pink Unicorn!) then you take it to be filled with stuffing. On the way you find a 'voice box', which activates when you squeeze it, choose a heart and then have your animal of choice sewn up. Courtney's Unicorn is called Cinderella and has the voice box of a sheep (there were no unicorn voice boxes available!)
After that we made our way further along the road to the Apple flagship store!!! What an incredible experience! it is HUGE! Megie went off to find us something to eat while I browsed around, hooked my Powerbook up to the open wireless network, and Courtney played a Barbie game on a free eMac. When we left the store I added another gadget to my Mac arsenal, a 512MB iPod shuffle!! It is great.
That evening we met Megie's cousin Richard at Waterloo and went along to Twickenham for dinner with Richard, his wife Karyn and their friend Amon. Craig joined us after work. It was such a memorable evening!
We caught the last train from Twickenham to Clapham Junction, and got back to Worcester Park at 01h30!!
On Good Friday we awoke rather late, packed up our things and hoped on the train to catch a Tube to Richard and Michelle at Ealing Broadway. It was quite a job getting around with my 25KG' of luggage and Megie and Courtney's 12KG bag! However, it was worth it to get to our friends Richard and Michelle! I have missed them both so much since leaving Somerset West. I often long for those care free days when I was doing my Doctorate and Richard was the youth pastor at Coronation Ave Methodist Church.
Richie and Mich took us to their lovely home in Ealing. As is to be expected their place is stunning! Rich and Mich have such a wonderful sense of class and style. They were incredibly generous to have us stay with them ('squatting' in their lounge) for 3 nights!
On Friday evening we took a nice long walk around the area in which Richard works (London SW1). It is SO posh! We ended up at the Natural History Museum which was incredible to behold. I have never before seen quite so incredible a collection of fossils and dinosaur remains. The T-Rex exhibition was the highlight. Of course, Courtney loved the exhibition. Moreover, the attention she got from Richard and Michelle was lapped up!
On Saturday morning we drove back in to London and Richard and Michelle treated us to an open bus tour of London's sights. We saw EVERYTHING!! A real highlight was a boat trip along the River Thames. Our guide was hilarious. The 30 minute trip from London Bridge to the London eye was incredible. London is a wonderful city. I would so love to live in the city. However, I do realize that it is not an ideal environment in which to raise a child. However, the cosmopolitan nature and pace were truly invigorating.
We ended in the evening by meeting our friend Ulric Gordon at Buckingham Palace and going for a walk in incredible parks and gardens. It was freezing!
Sunday morning was a real highlight for me. We awoke early and went with Richard and Michelle to the Holy Trinity Brompton Church of England Easter Sunday service. Sandy Millard preached and did communion. Whilst nothing in particular stood out for me, it was just such a special time to reconnect with God, remember the wonderful loving sacrifice of Christ and reaffirm my call to ministry. The last number of months have been particularly tough and stressful for me. This service was a healing time.
After the service we drove out to the country. We met our friends Bryan Johannsen and his girlfriend Alix at Windsor Castle and then spent most of the day walking through, and taking in, the grounds and interior of the castle. When we finished there we took a wonderful drive through Maidenhead (I got to see where Richard ministered and where they lived) and then on to Henley and Marlow etc.
That brings us to today. I can hardly believe how much we have done in such a short time. Indeed, this was a family experience of a lifetime! I will miss my girls, but I'm on my way to another completely new experience. I am SO excited about going to America. My hosts have been so generous and gracious already! I hope to be able to offer something worthwhile in return.
Well, check back again. I'm not sure how often I will have internet access, or how much time I will have to write. I hope to update with news and experiences as often as I can.
Posted at 01:59 PM Read More
Wed - March 23, 2005
London and Cambridge!
Wow! What can I say? Last night I jokingly said to
my hosts that living in South Africa feels like living on a farm compared to
London! On Monday when we got to London we were collected by Megie's cousin
Richard. He came to fetch us in his HUGE four liter Jeep 4x4. We were so
pleased that he he had offered to do so. When we saw what a drive it was from
Heathrow the Worcester Park, we realized that we would never have navigated our
way to Craig on the trains and
tubes.
We arrived at Craig's place at about 6h30 and got our stuff settled in, had a shower and a shave and then hit London at about 9h30 (one can get a much cheaper Zone 1 - 4 all day travel card if bought after 9h30). We got onto the overland train from Worcester park to Waterloo station. Once at Waterloo we started walking!!! Courtney was such a fantastic little trouper. In short, for those who know London, we walked from Waterloo to the London eye, along the Thames river to the Millennium Bridge, up to St Paul's Cathedral, then back along Fleet Street past Temple Court and the Justice Courts (off course we passed the West End theaters), then at Charing Cross we caught a Tube to Sloane square to meet our friend Richard Steel, and then caught a Tube back to Waterloo station and then the train back to Worcester Park. All in all it was a FANTASTIC day!!! We got to see the most incredible sights, see some fantastically interesting people (Courtney loved all the people with different colors of hair - green, blue, pink etc. etc. She was also enamored with all the tattoos and body piercings, particularly a young guy on a bicycle with tattoos from head to toe and stretched ear lobes!)
Some of the sights and attractions we went to:
We went on the London Eye
National Theatre
Tate Modern Art Gallery
Millenium Bridge
St Paul's Cathedral
Temple Square, the Templar Church, the Temple (Dan Brown here we come!)
The West End (theaters, the Savoy Hotel etc. etc.)
The London Underground
Yesterday I made the trip out to Cambridge, which is were I am now. It is just before 8am and I am sitting in a flat at Wesley House in the Rank building. At 8h15 I will be going down to the Wesley House Chapel for worship with the staff and students. I was wonderfully hosted by Rev. Dr. Philip Luscombe and his wife Laurel last night. Before that one of the students (George, his wife Fran and their son Adam) invited me for a cup of coffee and then helped me to find Kings College. Cambridge is perhaps the most beautiful city I have ever been in! It has such a wonderful spirit of learning about it. I find Grahamstown to have been a lesser imitation of this. The University itself is spread out across the city in various Colleges. The buildings and chapels are the most fantastic Medieval architecture. There is an all pervasive sense of history and belonging to something noble and great about the place.
Wesley House is just as wonderful. The library is fantastic. I found that I had so much in common with Philip (science and theology, the fact that we both first read science, ministerial formation etc.)
This is truly a place that I would love to visit again! I hope to be able to post selected photographs in a day or two.
As you can see, I have not had internet access thus far. Yesterday I did sign up with a wireless provider at the train station. So, I hope to be able to make use of that today to post these two entries and check my mail.
Come back for more!
We arrived at Craig's place at about 6h30 and got our stuff settled in, had a shower and a shave and then hit London at about 9h30 (one can get a much cheaper Zone 1 - 4 all day travel card if bought after 9h30). We got onto the overland train from Worcester park to Waterloo station. Once at Waterloo we started walking!!! Courtney was such a fantastic little trouper. In short, for those who know London, we walked from Waterloo to the London eye, along the Thames river to the Millennium Bridge, up to St Paul's Cathedral, then back along Fleet Street past Temple Court and the Justice Courts (off course we passed the West End theaters), then at Charing Cross we caught a Tube to Sloane square to meet our friend Richard Steel, and then caught a Tube back to Waterloo station and then the train back to Worcester Park. All in all it was a FANTASTIC day!!! We got to see the most incredible sights, see some fantastically interesting people (Courtney loved all the people with different colors of hair - green, blue, pink etc. etc. She was also enamored with all the tattoos and body piercings, particularly a young guy on a bicycle with tattoos from head to toe and stretched ear lobes!)
Some of the sights and attractions we went to:
We went on the London Eye
National Theatre
Tate Modern Art Gallery
Millenium Bridge
St Paul's Cathedral
Temple Square, the Templar Church, the Temple (Dan Brown here we come!)
The West End (theaters, the Savoy Hotel etc. etc.)
The London Underground
Yesterday I made the trip out to Cambridge, which is were I am now. It is just before 8am and I am sitting in a flat at Wesley House in the Rank building. At 8h15 I will be going down to the Wesley House Chapel for worship with the staff and students. I was wonderfully hosted by Rev. Dr. Philip Luscombe and his wife Laurel last night. Before that one of the students (George, his wife Fran and their son Adam) invited me for a cup of coffee and then helped me to find Kings College. Cambridge is perhaps the most beautiful city I have ever been in! It has such a wonderful spirit of learning about it. I find Grahamstown to have been a lesser imitation of this. The University itself is spread out across the city in various Colleges. The buildings and chapels are the most fantastic Medieval architecture. There is an all pervasive sense of history and belonging to something noble and great about the place.
Wesley House is just as wonderful. The library is fantastic. I found that I had so much in common with Philip (science and theology, the fact that we both first read science, ministerial formation etc.)
This is truly a place that I would love to visit again! I hope to be able to post selected photographs in a day or two.
As you can see, I have not had internet access thus far. Yesterday I did sign up with a wireless provider at the train station. So, I hope to be able to make use of that today to post these two entries and check my mail.
Come back for more!
Posted at 08:01 AM Read More
Sun - March 20, 2005
We're on our way!
It is Sunday 20 March 2005, 14h25 (SA time). We are
somewhere between Johannesburg and Nairobi (the pilot has just informed us that
we are over Tanzania. How great is that?)! We are on a British Airways flight
on our way to London. We will be stopping over in Nairobi for a few hours
before we take make the last section of our journey to Heathrow. The journey
will be 16 hours in total, but at least it was more cost effective to come this
way.
This whole trip came about as a result of an invitation for me to go to Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina in the USA. When I discovered that I could have a lay-over in the UK at no extra cost I jumped at the opportunity. Since opportunities like this don't come along that often we decided to bite the bullet and have Megie and Courtney join me on the England leg of the trip.
Megie, Courtney and I will be spending some time with family and friends in London over the next week (Megie and Courts fly back home on the 28th of March. On the same day I go on to the US). My primary reason for being in the UK is to visit Wesley House at Cambridge University , with whom we (that is John Wesley College) have a partnership. However, since this is the Holy Week (the Easter weekend starts on Thursday evening, for those who are not familiar with the Christian Calendar) I will get to spend some time with Megie and Courtney visiting my brother in law Craig, and our best friends Richard and Michelle.
Basically we will arrive in London on the 21st at 5am! Megie's cousin, Richard, will be fetching us from Heathrow and taking us to Craig's place (apparently it would mean quite a few trains, tubes and a bus to get to Craig from Heathrow). On 22 March I will be going to Cambridge where I will have the pleasure of meeting with Philip Luscombe at Wesley House. He has arranged for me to get a chance to see a few sights around Cambridge and meet some students etc.
From there it is back to London to do a bit of sight seeing with Megie and Courts. On Good Friday we will make our way across to Ealing where we will be staying with Richard and Michelle. I spoke with Richard on the phone last night. We are SO excited about seeing them, and experiencing something of their life in London.
On Monday the 28th I catch a noon flight to Chicago. Megie and Courts catch a direct flight on to Johannesburg the same evening. Once at O'Hare I catch a connecting flight to Raleigh and then make my to Durham. Whilst in Durham I will have an opportunity to meet the staff and students of Duke Divinity school. It is SUCH an honour to be able to do so, since Duke is truly a prestigious school! Whilst there I hope to be able to sit in on some classes (I am particularly keen to hear Professor Wainwright and Professor Hauerwass!) Between 1-3 April I will be visiting Rev Ross Olivier in Jackson Mississippi. Ross was the General Secretary of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. I have always looked up to him in the ministry. It will be truly wonderful to have some time with Ross and his family, Shane and Jon-Mark.
Once back in Duke I will be doing one of the scariest things I have had to do thus far in my academic career! I will be leading worship and participating in a lecture series on the Church in South Africa at Duke. The main speaker will be Archbishop Ndungane of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa!
On the 9th of April I make my way back to Chicago where I will be hosted by Professor Mark Fowler at Garrett Theological Seminary. Whilst there I will be aiming to develop a partnership between the MCSA and Garret, particularly relating to Mentorship training for our Ordained Clergy. I will also have an opportunity to visit the Willow Creek Church at the request of the Bryanston Methodist Church.
I return home on the 16th of April.
I am not too sure how often I will be able to update my blog. Firstly, once I get to the US I am not sure how much time I will have to write. Secondly, I am not certain when I will have internet access to upload these entries. However, I will do my best to make the time and find hotspots to upload. So, come back when you get a chance.
This whole trip came about as a result of an invitation for me to go to Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina in the USA. When I discovered that I could have a lay-over in the UK at no extra cost I jumped at the opportunity. Since opportunities like this don't come along that often we decided to bite the bullet and have Megie and Courtney join me on the England leg of the trip.
Megie, Courtney and I will be spending some time with family and friends in London over the next week (Megie and Courts fly back home on the 28th of March. On the same day I go on to the US). My primary reason for being in the UK is to visit Wesley House at Cambridge University , with whom we (that is John Wesley College) have a partnership. However, since this is the Holy Week (the Easter weekend starts on Thursday evening, for those who are not familiar with the Christian Calendar) I will get to spend some time with Megie and Courtney visiting my brother in law Craig, and our best friends Richard and Michelle.
Basically we will arrive in London on the 21st at 5am! Megie's cousin, Richard, will be fetching us from Heathrow and taking us to Craig's place (apparently it would mean quite a few trains, tubes and a bus to get to Craig from Heathrow). On 22 March I will be going to Cambridge where I will have the pleasure of meeting with Philip Luscombe at Wesley House. He has arranged for me to get a chance to see a few sights around Cambridge and meet some students etc.
From there it is back to London to do a bit of sight seeing with Megie and Courts. On Good Friday we will make our way across to Ealing where we will be staying with Richard and Michelle. I spoke with Richard on the phone last night. We are SO excited about seeing them, and experiencing something of their life in London.
On Monday the 28th I catch a noon flight to Chicago. Megie and Courts catch a direct flight on to Johannesburg the same evening. Once at O'Hare I catch a connecting flight to Raleigh and then make my to Durham. Whilst in Durham I will have an opportunity to meet the staff and students of Duke Divinity school. It is SUCH an honour to be able to do so, since Duke is truly a prestigious school! Whilst there I hope to be able to sit in on some classes (I am particularly keen to hear Professor Wainwright and Professor Hauerwass!) Between 1-3 April I will be visiting Rev Ross Olivier in Jackson Mississippi. Ross was the General Secretary of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. I have always looked up to him in the ministry. It will be truly wonderful to have some time with Ross and his family, Shane and Jon-Mark.
Once back in Duke I will be doing one of the scariest things I have had to do thus far in my academic career! I will be leading worship and participating in a lecture series on the Church in South Africa at Duke. The main speaker will be Archbishop Ndungane of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa!
On the 9th of April I make my way back to Chicago where I will be hosted by Professor Mark Fowler at Garrett Theological Seminary. Whilst there I will be aiming to develop a partnership between the MCSA and Garret, particularly relating to Mentorship training for our Ordained Clergy. I will also have an opportunity to visit the Willow Creek Church at the request of the Bryanston Methodist Church.
I return home on the 16th of April.
I am not too sure how often I will be able to update my blog. Firstly, once I get to the US I am not sure how much time I will have to write. Secondly, I am not certain when I will have internet access to upload these entries. However, I will do my best to make the time and find hotspots to upload. So, come back when you get a chance.
Posted at 02:51 PM Read More
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Published On: Apr 29, 2005 08:12 AM
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Published On: Apr 29, 2005 08:12 AM