Orthodox Vespers

When in Rome...

I sang in the Orthodox Choir that was put together for the Orthodox Vespers! We have been asked to sing again at two more Orthodox services. It's not great and the recording is poor, But I enjoyed it.

The Liturgy and the delivery of it, allows time for personal reflection and prayer, there are no orders to stand and to sit, no need to open this book or look at that sheet, yet because of the intimacy you feel involved in the worship.

If you can cope with the poor recording, watch the clip


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F80LIZ-P8e4&feature=youtu.be

Cultural night photos

Cultural evening

It was the turn of the Africans, Americans and Caribbeans to feed and entertain us.

We had dried beef from Mexico and soft tortilla chips. A curry from Jamaica and salt fish cakes, and a traditional Zambian soup with maize. It was wonderful to have such variety, all washed down with a delicious fruit and ginger cocktail and Tequila!
Then came the Bob Marley, Salsa dancing and the African songs...

A great night was had by all, photos to follow.

Its the turn of the Asians and Europeans in November. I've opted out of the main course, the food they serve in Switzerland is a little bit too similar to food at home, so I'm doing the puddings, I'm planning a sherry trifle and a rhubarb crumble with custard, I think these would be considered traditional English fare?

Looking forward to spending a day in the kitchen after being waited on for six weeks, yes six weeks today!

Academia

I suppose I was going to notice it eventually, especially as quite a lot of the teaching is covered in a variety of different ways for a variety of different reasons, by Catholic and Lutheran professors, that I could go home an expert on the Catholic and Lutheran perspectives of the ecumenical movement and its theology! I'm not sure some of my Catholic and Lutheran colleagues will feel the same about the Anglican perspective. But don't worry there are enough of us here to speak up!
And as for the repetitiveness, well I thought about it and during coffee this morning, following a slightly repeated session on the Pentecostal movement, Aris, an Armenian student, who came in June to attend the english course, so he could begin his studies here in English, mentioned that "he got it now."  He didn't get it after the Pentecostal talk from a visiting speaker, but now he does! I have to realise that I speak English and I come from an ecumenical college, Aris is Armenian and comes from an oriental orthodox background, so he has not been exposed to a lot of these denominations, and didn't speak a word of English until June this year, so who am I to complain? Yet again I feel especially humbled from these unexpected clashes of culture.

I have to remember its not all about me!!

The honeymoon period is over!

Things are missing from the fridge, the noise in the house at night is starting to grate, I dont want to be the source of all knowledge just because im English and I'm fed up with the food!! Oh, and I'm homesick and want to come home...
We were warned that these feelings would hit us and they said it would be after about a month, it's 4 weeks today since I got here!
I have no doubt that by next week things will have settled again.

I had my first visitors this weekend, Sarah and David stayed in Geneva. It was so great to see them and speak my normal English instead of the ecumenical English I'm learning to speak here. One thing I have noticed is that I can't apply my usual humour in my conversations, sarcasm just doesn't translate ecumenically!
David and Sarah bought Bristol with them just by being here, this was great, but also reinforced the homesickness.
But what a great weekend we had. We started with a fondue lunch and then tried to walk it off in search of the Calvin statue at Judith's request back at STETS, the pictures are on Facebook. We then found a tea shop in the old city, with the weather so great, we were able to sit outside and enjoy the evening sun.
On Sunday after Holy Trinity Geneva, we settled down on the boat tour around the lake, Sarah to take lots of pictures and me to sit and chat some more. There is absolutely no question that tourism and exploring new places are not top of my list for filling my spare time, although I'm doing a lot better than most of the students I study with.
It was wonderful to spend a weekend away from Bossey, but it was also great to show it to Sarah and David on Sunday, they had a chance to meet a few of my fellow students as well.

The weekend has left me refreshed and ready to start another week, as I said, the rose tinted spectacles were going to slip sooner of later....