Bookish Bliss

The Missions and Stewardship Committee puts on a HUGE book sale every year. A group of us have been spending many back-breaking hours sorting books, moving boxes of books, and being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of BOOKS. The great thing is that you earn books by helping. I do so love me them books. So far I have picked up the following:
The Hebrew Prophets by Newsome
The Minor Prophets by Boice
God of the Oppressed by Cone
The First Theologians by Gillespie
The Epic of Gilgamesh
a tourist book of Gotha, Germany (where I once spent many hours pouring over Greek and Hebrew texts with the great Jim Edwards)
The Steps of Bonhoeffer (a photo biography of my husband Dieter)
a commentary on Zechariah-Malachi by Petersen
a commentary on Ezra-Nehemiah by Blenkinsopp
A History of Prophecy in Israel by Blenkinsopp
Syrische Grammatik (so I can learn Syriac after I learn German)
Chrestomathia Aethiopica (various ancient church writings in Ethiopic with a Latin glossary)

There's a lot of great stuff, so if you are in Princeton you should come by. Better yet, come help us sort the rest of this week, and move boxes to the gym on Saturday. It's a great workout!

Academic Insecurity

For Aramaic today we translated a 5th cent. BC fragment from the Words of Ahiqar, a widely-attested document of a similar style to Proverbs in the OT. Well, I thought the translation went okay, but today in class Dr. Seow spent most of his time rattling off how to figure out what the vowel points would have been in the 5th century, and how the Masoretes (the scribes who added vowel points to the Bible) would have pointed it, and what word it came from in Proto-Semitic and Akkadian and Phoenecian, and Lord knows what else. I've had linguistics, so I understand what he's talking about on a theoretic level, but he just whips out these ancient hypothetical forms and them some PhD student asks if there should be a circumflex over the aleph and he says it's just a mater, and then starts erasing and rewriting things and before I know it I'm as lost as you probably were at "Aramaic". Apparently I'll be able to do this with my eyes closed after I've taken Historical Hebrew Grammar. At any rate, there's nothing like being in a class of mostly PhD students to put me in my place, so to speak. And just to thoroughly humble me the other junior (first year M.Div. student) in the class commented on how he got most of the Masoretic pointing right. I hate the competitive nature of academia, but that was really the first time in interacting with a fellow student that I've thought "this is my competition." I guess this all means that I need to step it up a notch. But how high is that notch? I need to keep finding that balance between working hard and chastising myself for not being on the same level as the PhD students. Of course I don't know as much as they do! They have 3+ years more education than I do. One of them is a native Arabic speaker, and therefore obviously Semitic languages come naturally to him.
None of this stopped me from drooling over the Near Eastern Studies department while I was hanging up posters at the University this afternoon. Like a moth to the flame, and come back for more linguistic burns.

Ode to Chick-fil-a (in prose)

I have eaten at Chick-fil-a in 4 states. Colorado, Georgia, Tennessee, and New Jersey. It is approximately the best food in the world. Claire and I ate there when we were stuck in the Atlanta airport for 24 hours (concourse A, in case you're ever in a similar predicament), and it was the first place we went to eat during Christmas break this past December, and where we had lunch in Oak Ridge the day before we left for Germany last year. Now I eat it in Princeton with different friends, but the same great chicken. Adam Neder, famed theology professor at Whitworth College, was the first customer at one of the Chick-fil-a's out here, and he may rival me and Claire in our devotion to the wonder that is the 8-pack chicken strip meal. Sadly, many of you are not in places where you can experience this great joy of life, but my hope is that one day you two may discover your new favorite restaurant. I think the closest one to Spokane is in Grand Junction, CO (about a 14 hour drive).
So here's one for the chicken, and the great people with whom I've eaten it.

Voting, round 2

The adventures in bridesmaid dresses continue. For Fishy's (aka Becky's) wedding she is looking at this one or this one. I have always loved wearing formal dresses. I used to do it a whole lot (for a reason, not just like around the house or anything). So tell Fishy which of these you like, because I already told her my opinion, and y'all know that just about anyone except me is more qualified to make decisions of fashion.
Incidentally, for Claire's we are going with the second option (tropic skirts and different tops). And I'm going to do something fun with shoes for the reception, since I sure won't be able to dance in the ones we're all wearing for the ceremony.
So there it is. I know you were all just dying to know. And now I will go back to reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Lovely things about today

1. Waking up with a slightly sore throat from talking to my best friend on the phone for 4 hours.
2. Skipping my 8am class
3. Wesley's doctrine of Christian Perfection
4. Dinner with nuns
5. Reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
6. The Well
7. Crayons and cranberry juice
8. Finding reasonably priced wedding favors on-line
9. Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream for dessert
10. No more looming papers until finals
11. things coming together
12. God is God, and I am not.

Are you this girl?

The one who's not me that is. If so, you should leave me a comment so I know you were here. And if not, you should leave a comment telling her to read my blog. Claire is the shizz.

So you're telling me I'm a student?

I'm tired today, and it's actually because I was up late writing a paper for a change, instead of because I got too much sleep. My academic life is wierd here because I really only HAVE to do things around midterms and finals. Other than that noone really cares whether I read (well, except when it's my turn to translate in Aramaic), and if a few things fall through the cracks it's no big deal. Maybe that means I'm not going to get as much out of seminary as I possibly could, or maybe it means I won't be as neurotic about grades as some of my friends here. But I got to play real student for a few days, since I had a 12 page paper due yesterday and a 7 pager (which took more thought than the 12 pager) due today. My current state of exhaustion is due to the fact that I didn't start the latter until about 5pm yesterday. Obviously it was more important to translate a few verses of Aramaic and talk to Claire for two hours on Monday night than to start the paper. Seriously, it was more important. Never any regrets about talking on the phone instead of doing homework. Tonight I'll buckle down on the Aramaic then call Meagan to further congratulate her on getting accepted to PTS. Yay, I'll have another Whitworth buddy next year!

I miss you!

Friends I loved seeing and now miss terribly: Shelly, Jeni, Matt, Kyna, Jasmine, Jocelyn, Mary, Erika, Emily, Annemarie, Virgie, Matt G, Corby, Christine, Jaime, Roger, Adam, Saundra, Terry, Jerry, Anna, Pablo, Melanie, Andi, Jim, Caitlin, Jessie, Janie, Heather, Catherine, Jenny, Ashley, Kim, Ally, Sarahbeth, Tina, Billy, Josh, Justin, Alison, Ben, Layla, Chris, Kelsy, Micki.

Friends I didn't see and so continue to miss terribly: Claire, Dave, Fishy, Bianca, Andrew.

Now you are all famous for, if nothing else, being cherished by little ol' me. What can I say, I get sentimental around bed time.

Who am I?

No, I'm not gettin deeply introspective. I'm procrastinating, but in an interesting, informative, and potentially helpful way. Go here and help me map my personality!

Friends!

Family Dinner Friends
D-Group Friends

My week in Spokane was amazing. I got to see almost everyone who is precious to me, drink a lot of coffee, eat a lot of cake, talk, and hug, and be with some of the best and favorite people in my life. It's amazing how it still feels like home, even though it's been almost a year and so much has changed.
Though I'm sad to not be with my Whitworth friends all the time, I feel rejuvenated to finish this semester well, and every encouraged by the advice and love of my wonderful friends and professors. It reminds me of how much I want to have those kinds of relationships here, too.