little time left.

Back to America soon.

on the lead up...

Nice, France for four days. just returned today and not sleepy enough yet

Wedding cake baking. holy cats! what i have i gotten myself into/this is going to be awesome!

Wedding. yippee

i used to be a technology snob.

I didn't understand the compulsion to own an ipod. I thought they were expensive, unnecessary, and were conversation-barriers.

I contemplated getting an ipod for over a year, considering conspicuous consumerism and whether such a purchase would be foolhardy.

About a year and a half ago, I decided it was all right and kept an eye on the apple website until I found a refurbished model of the ipod I wanted.

Now, I get it. Especially since the amount of time I spend on public transport has skyrocketed, it is a God-send.

My favorite is when I have cleaning days on Mondays, and I can catch up on all my podcasts.

These are my top five:

The World in Words by Patrick Cox and The World
Let My People think
Fresh Air by NPR
St Helens sermons
This American Life

I also recently discovered PRI's International Affairs pod. It has shorts on America abroad- foreign policy and foreign relations.

bring back to the states.

when I go back to the States, I want to carry on the English tradition of not only offering guests a cup of tea when they arrive, but also, always sending them away with a cup when they leave.

They used to have to arrange when to return the china cup, but now guests leave with the tea in a to-go cup.

Just kidding. They don't do that.

stuff christians like.

I remember the first time I read the blog "Stuff Christians Like". I nearly fell off my chair laughing so hard.

He is witty, observant, and a great writer.

Jon Acuff had been around for a year or more before I somehow discovered his site. Since then, it appears his work and his blog have been taken to the next level. The blog has a snazzy new website and some of his blog material has been put into a book which is recently out.

I just found this article he wrote an article for CNN.

places that got pictures.

snow in january


world cup advertising


canary wharf

there goes my handshake.

I am proud of my handshake. And I like shaking hands. It's a personal, jovial touch to interacting with people.

Recently, in an interactive role-play, my English friends let me know that they wouldn't offer a hand shake in a situation where I did. "It's very formal," they told me. Oh.

Not quite finished with my Jeremy Paxman's The English: A Portrait of a People, I am moving on to Kate Fox's Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behavior.

Fox is an anthropologist who, like Paxman, is herself English.

She says, in general, "There is no universal prescription of handshakes on initial introduction- indeed, they may be regarded as too "businesslike" - and the normal business practice of giving one's name at this point is also regarded as inappropriate (Fox 39)."

Got it. No handshakes and don't start off with names; ease into it. Glad I am learning this two weeks before I leave.

da jesus book.

One of the best discoveries from working for Wycliffe Bible Translators. From what I saw when I worked there, Da Jesus Book is one of their best marketing pieces. It is the New Testament translated into Hawaiian Pidgin English.

“God wen get so plenny love an aloha fo da peopo inside da world, dat he wen send me, his one an ony Boy, so dat everybody dat trus me no get cut off from God, but get da real kine life dat stay to da max foeva.”

Do you understand that? Do you recognize it?

It’s John 3:16 in Hawaiian Pidgin.

More? Okay:

“So den, wat bout us guys? All dose peopo dat wen trus God befo time, jalike dey all wen run one race. An now, jalike dey all stay standing aroun us, watching us run da race, an showing us how fo do um. So we gotta gemo all dat stuff dat make us run slow, you know, dat bad kine stuff dat jam us all up. We gotta hang in dea an finish da race dat God wen pick fo us.” – Fo Da Hebrew Peopo 12:1


Source: Da Jesus Book. Wycliffe Bible Translators. 2000.

the typist....

I applied for three and a half jobs today. That's enough computer time for me today.

the 4th!

the 4th of July still happens in England!

night-time reading.

It's never too late to study your surroundings (and its peoples).