Ireland 43 - England 13....yeah that feels good.

So with the result of this past Saturday, last week's defeat against France drops into obscure distant memory amidst loud choruses of "Fields of Athenry"....

After having been scolded by my flat-mate Siobhan (from Belfast) because I haven't yet been to O'Neill's Pub in Winchester, I decided that's where I'd go to see the big match. It worked out well cause I'd just spend the day working on a course-mate of mine's house that he's rebuilding (he lives in Winchester). I had been lead to believe by Siobhan that there would be loads of Irish there for the match, and although I rarely have been to Irish pubs while abroad I though if there ever was an occasion to be with other Irish people for a match, this was it.

The days leading up to the match, people kept asking me "what's the big deal about Croke Park?" If I'm stuck for time I'll usually just remind people that the last time there was such a big British contingency present in the stadium was a day now known as "bloody Sunday." If you've seen the film Michael Collins you'll remember this portrayed in the scene where the British tanks break into the middle of the pitch and open fire on the players and crowd.

It's even more than that though isn't it. Even for myself, someone who's barely picked up a hurley except for in P.E., never been to a GAA match let alone in Croke park, and a child of immigrants, there was an odd tension in me at the thought of hearing "God Save the Queen" sung there. Croke Park and the GAA which owns it is a remaining symbol of Irish independence. The GAA didn't used to allow its members to play other "foreign" sports such as football and rugby, so there were many mixed emotions leading up to this Ireland - England rugby match. I seriously thank God, for everyone's sake, that Ireland won.

When I walked into O'Neill's pub, I was sadly dissapointed, yet not terribly surprised. It was jam packed with England supporters drinking Guinness. There was a small Irish group, dressed in green and crowded in a corner. We did break into a few choruses, and managed to make the best of a greatly diminished atmosphere, but there was really nothing that could wipe the smiles of our faces that night. I have to say, isn't it slightly ironic that a foreign-English sport, that used to be outlawed by the GAA is now the only international sport that we play where it represents a united Ireland? I love it.

Mary is Dead

I got the word from Benjamin a couple of days ago that our long enduring and faithful friend, Mary, my old jeep, has finally given in and passed. It's a sad thing losing one's first car. When I left her to Benjamin I didn't feel that I was losing her because she was in such good care and I knew that I would be able to see her if I ever wanted to. I got regular updates on how she was running and sort of felt that she was still here with me sometimes. However, this time it's more permamanet. In fairness Mary has done us well, many people well. She was already second hand when she first came into my sister-in-law, hailey's, hands, and then on marriage became my brother's posession also. She got passed down to me and I passed her on to Benjamin.

If you're wondering about the name, well you'd have had to seen this ad (click here to watch then press PLAY AD). It's a Mr. Kipling's Mince Pie ad, but you really have to see it to understand. Joeseph keep's screaming "Come on Mary!" and basically that's what I had to yell at my jeep every morning to get her to start, and she always did.

I've had many a good memory in that car. A 4 day road trip with my dad, pulling a giant trailer of my brother and hailey's stuff before starting my first year of university. My first time skidding off the road when driving in snow. Lifts for good friends who were car-less. Late night runs to Los Burritos....mid-day runs to Los Burritos.......morning runs to Los Burritos......good times.

According to Benjamin she had 210,473 miles on her when she died, not bad. On a more serious note though, Mary deciding to give up at this point now leaves Benjamin without a car to drive to his new job in the subarbs of Minneapolis. His job is really car-dependent, so this is quite a big deal. Please pray that somehow he'd be able to find a replacement, cause he really can't afford to be without this job at the moment. I'm sure he'd appreciate it.

........spot the memories......

So, since most of you haven't got the chance to see my room....being that not too many people have come to visit me so far.....I thought I'd share with you the one shelf of stuff that I seem to take everywhere with me no matter where I'm living. It gets added to all the time, and is about the only colour to be found anywhere in my room....so let me take you through some of the pieces (wow this sounds cheesy, which it is....but who cares).

I've got sort of two rules when I get "souvenirs" from places i get either stuff that is just for normal common use in the place i'm visiting (such as bottles or signs..) which will remind me of the life I had somewhere or I get something that I can use later on (like a t-shirt or bracelet) that will remind me of where I've been after i'm gone whenever i wear it.

Probably the oldest thing up there in my list of memories is the mini-"Animal" the rowdy drummer Muppet which was randomly given to me one day by Rob Browne a good friend and ex-youth leader of mine........that's been to Chicago, Cambodia and back with me now to England....

moving on we got probably the next things are the diet coke and pepsi cans....these are going to make me BIG MONEY in the future (REALLY....) as they are still full cans of the dark stuff that went out of date before the turn of the millennium...that's how old they are....i have no reason what first compelled me to keep them back when I was a teenager but for some reason i still have them and well, don't quite want to give them up....

Next we got that familiar sign in the background with Iarnrod Eireann plastered on to it. This was a gift from Aprile Kavanagh....you know you've got a good friend when they'll steal for you.

Next the Egyptian bookmark was a gift from Jessica Hoffmeier who lead a bible study group for some of us students in Chicago. She'd done a degree in Near Eastern studies and was doing a masters in Archaeology (I think but probably wrong) as well. Let's just say that we got seriously in depth and she would spend time translating each passage fresh for us each week....that's commitment.

Directly to the right of the bookmark and under the pepsi bottle you can kind of see what looks like a glass eggcup. This I got at the famous restaurant Ed Debevics in Chicago...a restaurant where the staff are meant to be rude to you (don't ask me why). Anyway apparently this was the "world's smallest Sunday" and it came with a free glass holder. It was the only thing I could afford on the menu so that's what I got. It was from our first "big-sibs" outing to chicago during orientation to Wheaton....such a long time ago.

The silver Jameson flask was a gift from my brother for being in his wedding....hasn't gotten much use, but I'm sure that will change someday.

Next comes a bunch of stuff from my time in Jordan. All the glass bottles are all in arabic and the bracelets would get us some respect and friendly looks when we wore them around Amman.
That's where the money is from too.

There's a couple of other things my "70's" style sunglasses hanging at the back reminding me of California where I got them in a thrift shop.....The card at the side written to me by two friends from different parts of the world who ended up living almost next to each other (Laura Robinson, a friend from Ireland and Megan Hamilton, a friend from Wheaton).

There's the cambodia stuff, the Angkor beer shirt (made into wall hanging...it was a little too big...given to me by friends in Cambodia), the key chain my brother Teara gave to me, and the chopsticks I bought in the market (now inside the Pepsi or should I say "bebsi" bottle).

Then we got lastly but not least my "save the whales belt buckle" that my brother got me for graduation cause I'm "into social justice stuff.." and then the Chinese money envelope that a Chinese student who goes by the name of Daphne gave to me for helping her, carry her bags from the bus stop to her room back in September...I didn't see her again until December when she stopped by to give me my gift...completely unexpected.....

So there you have it (if you've lasted...this has been one of my more boring posts), most of my life fits onto a shelf.....crazy stuff...

Ireland 17- France 20

I just finished watching the Ireland v. France 6 nations match....what a game. It was probably one of the best, most tense matches I'd ever seen which just added to the feel of the experience with the first ever Rugby match played in Croke Park. You'd have loved us to win it in the end, but it wasn't meant to be. The French try in the last minute was too much too late in the game for Ireland to do anything about it....at least it was one for the memory.

I've just finished reading one of the most disturbing articles I've read in a long time. It's about a Kenyan tour-company which has started offering tours of Kibera, known as the African continent's largest slum.

'"People are getting tired of the Maasai Mara and wildlife. No one is enlightening us about other issues. So I've come up with a new thing -- slum tours," enthused James Asudi, general manager of Kenyan-based Victoria Safaris.'

This just seems sick to me. It does to other people too.

"What is this fascination with Kibera among people who do not know what real poverty means?" asked the Daily Nation, a Kenyan Newspaper.

'"They see us like puppets, they want to come and take pictures, have a little walk, tell their friends they've been to the worst slum in Africa," said car-wash worker David Kabala. "But nothing changes for us. If someone comes, let him do something for us. Or if they really want to know how we think and feel, come and spend a night, or walk round when it's pouring with rain here and the paths are like rivers."'

"Visits by tourists, which reached a crescendo during the recent anti-capitalist World Social Forum in Nairobi, were testing the local hospitality culture to the limit."

I think this last quote from the article sums up just how wrong this whole thing is.
"Kibera is the rave spot in Kenya," wrote one columnist sarcastically. "For where else can one see it all in one simple stop?The AIDS victims dying slowly on a cold, cardboard bed. The breastless teenager. ... Plastic-eating goats fighting small children ... and -- ah yes -- the famous 'shit-rolls-downhill-flying-toilets'. It is unbeatable."

This is what happens when all that comes up in western media when 'Africa' is mentioned is poverty, injustice, and war. These are the thing people now most commonly associate with Africa, because of constant repitition. Not to deny that these things exist, they do, but Africa is so much more than that. The peoples on this continent, (where I have never had the opportunity to travel to but only to know people who come from there) have vibrant lives and cultures and form the oldest societies on earth, not to mention the unbelievable richness and beauty of the continent geographically. I'm not in anyway qualified to talk about this subject. But slum tourism is rediculous, and I think all too common. Might "short term projects" also be guilty of this?

If you want to read the entire article for yourself click HERE.

Isle of Wig-ut (Wight).

So I've got this thing about pronouncing silent letter g's in words....for example I like to pronounce Tallaght as Tall-a-gut....and so with the Isle of Wight so close at hand, it's no exception. Granted, as you all know, i'm weird.

So a group of us from the BM4 medicine programme decided to go on a day trip to Wig-ut yesterday. Good times were had by all. Honestly though, I'm not exactly sure why the place is so popular. We spent the time and money to go over there and what did we do, well one group went shopping, another group went to watch rugby in a pub and yet another (that was the group I was in) decided to take a walk down the beach. It's strange though, I don't know why but somehow in my mind I felt I had an image of white sandy beaches and maybe a palm tree or two (just with how everyone always goes on about how idylic the Isle of Wig-ut is). What we found was just a normal rocky beach, and a sleepy town named Cowes, about the size of Blackrock, or maybe a little smaller.

Anyway, it's always the people that make the experience and we all had a good laugh. Ended up going out for a curry at night, which was an ordeal in itself, after somehow being verbally assaulted by two customers sitting near us (making us fear for our lives at provoking the wrath of the islanders), then after having the restaurant charge us almost 55 pounds more than they should have....David Rees and I, the more sober ones of the group, were able to argue them back down to what we were meant to pay. Anyway, let's just say there are plenty of stories and memories from the short day. I'll want to go back to Cowes and the Isle of Wig-ut someday, but I'll be okay if that's not for a while to come.

Meeting up at the Highfield bus stop. It's a beautiful day Rebecca (on right) using the occasion to sport her most trendy sunglasses. That's P on the Left.

Arriving into Cowes.

David and Kath.

Not a bad ending to a good day. (Kath, Pete and Tim).

Wheaton meets Southampton...

So I've been lucky enough to have a familiar face come visit me last weekend. Blake Sawicky who I knew during my Wheaton days, is studying for his masters in Marine Archaeology at UCL in London (a very good archaeology school). Anyway, last semester I had the chance to visit him for a weekend so this year, Blake has been able to spend a little time down here with me.....since Southampton is well...not exactly the tourist centre of the world, we did what I do with all the people who come visit me...i.e. go to Winchester. Winchester is full of all the history and architecture that you'd want to see, being the first capital of England and having one of the most well known Cathedrals.

Anyway, it's always good to have a familiar face around and some good conversation. Here's a few pics of our couple of days toegether.


This is blake. We're in the crypt of Winchester Cathedral where there's this suprising and reflective statue. We're lucky because it's been quite a while since the crypt has flooded enough to where the water relfects the light in the enitre room. When you're there it's really peaceful. I'm definitely going back.


Here's a better view.


This is the High Street, it was a bit random to come across a Native American busking group...but...yeah...what can you say.

Blake's dad has been telling him he needs to take more pictures of himself, when I offered to take one of him, he said he has to take them like this.....okay.....

A blog that needs to be visited..

Hey everyone, sorry this has to be short and sweet. I'll do a longer update later. But I've just been over at my friend Chika's blog and I need to recommend it here. Her last few posts are really insightful, well written thoughts, that everyone could benefit from. So I'll put the link up here.

http://www.xanga.com/africansun06

Barack Obama

So I don't know if you've been keeping track of the American presidential campaign (I hope you're not because there are much better uses of your time....I however seem to be addicted to anything political.....). I don't know about you but i think if you asked most people in the US today, they'd probably rather have a new election tomorrow than spend another 2 years with the current administration. As it seems about time for a democratic president, and with now real strong republican candidates appearing (at this still early stage) attention has been given strongly to two people, Hillary Rodham-Clinton and Barack Obama. Hillary (recognizable by simply her first name in many parts of the world) is a known quantity, which from what I read, is a good quality to have in US politics. People seem to be much more likely to vote for someone if they don't feel like they're going to be surprised by their actions. Obama on the other hand, is not very well known. However those of us who have lived in Illinois, do know him. I remember when he was running for the US Senate while I was at Wheaton. There was such a buzz around this charasmatic man. At that time I did a little bit of research on him and his biography was enough for me to set him apart in my mind. He was born to a Kenyan father and White American mother (from Kansas). His parents divorced when he was 2 and then his mother remarried an Indonesian man and the whole family moved to Indonesia, where Obama spent some of his childhood, before moving back to Kansas to be raised by his grandparents. In other words he was a Third Culture Kid (the type of youth that my brother and his wife work with).

Anyway, I've been reading more and more about him, and truly does seem a different sort of politician. Some of the comments he makes, cut through the intensely polarised, black and white understandings that are all too common in the US 2-party system and he is a politician that embraces that most issues are a lot more grey and require compromises along with difficult, unpopular decisions.

Anyway, I think this short video about his background and what even got him to this point is quite informative and worth a quick look.
http://www.barackobama.com/video/about.php

At the end of his speech on the video his rhetoric shows him to be a different type of leader, one perhaps who would be able to lead a now post-modern, pluralistic nation.

Why Western governments' foreign + economic policy matters....

I got this from the charity OXFAM's website.

	Access to medicines Life-saving drugs under threat in Thailand Thailand's national HIV and AIDS treatment programme has succeeded in providing cheap drugs to 90 per cent of the people who need them. However, the US push for a Free Trade Agreement with Thailand threatens the future of the treatment programme by enforcing stricter patent rules. This could increase the price of new and improved AIDS drugs by as much as 90 per cent, costing the Thai government up to $3.2 billion and putting thousands of lives at risk. For Solada, the availability of affordable medicines is a matter of life or death. She is 43-years-old and HIV-positive. She is currently receiving medicine through the government treatment programme. She lives with her husband who is a casual labourer, and her 16-year-old son. Sewing bags for a living, she is the family's main breadwinner. "When I first learnt I was HIV-positive I couldn't accept it," she says. "But now, because of the treatment I receive, I feel alive. I'm born again." Experts say that about five per cent of drug recipients each year develop resistance, as the HIV virus mutates. When this happens, new and improved drugs are required. These medicines are expensive as they are patented by international drug companies. The current prices charged by companies for these drugs ($6,782) are more than ten times the cost of cheaper copies currently provided by the government ($482). If the US and pharmaceutical companies get their way, life-saving drugs will be priced out of the reach of Thailand’s poor people. Isra is a 34-year-old dried seafood retailer living with HIV. Without support from Oxfam, he would be unable to pay for his HIV treatment, which costs twice what he earns per month. "I want drug companies to make drugs affordable," he says. "The new drugs are expensive. I think they should also be part of the government programme, as people on my income can't afford to buy them. I get depressed and stressed when I think of it. I have no choice, I want to survive. I need these drugs." Source: The economics of effective AIDS treatment: evaluating policy options for Thailand (World Bank; 2006), by Ana Revenga , Mead Over , Wiwat Peerapatanapokin , Sombat Thanprasertsuk , Emiko Masaki , Viroj Tangcharoensathien , Julian Gold. Global drug company, Novartis, must stop denying India the right to produce cheaper medicines for poor people worldwide!

Climate Change.....are critics sane?

So probably like most people, I'm one of those who tries to do my bit for the environment, but probably could make a lot more of an effort. I try to recycle, not take too many uneccesary car journeys (easy when you don't own a car) and the like. I definitely believe that human activity overall impacts the environment more for bad than good, and that we really should be doing more to reduce our carbon emissions and live in more of a harmony with what's left of nature.

(A quick side-note, I remember once when Janet, a Dr. with Servants Cambodia, took me out on a trip to the countryside where she helps do a TB clinic. When we got there, I felt as if I was in paradise, and wondered to myself if this was the first time I had ever breathed "pure" air. It was so untouched by pollution).

So anyway, I was reading on Drudge Report which I use as my source for a right-wing perspective in news (I like to get a wide spectrum of news sources to try and then formulate my own opinion), and found this article written in the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal. Written by Richard Lindzen, a professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT, the article discusses the politics of climatology and what he sees as the silencing of anyone who dissents on the topic. It is interesting reading, and I don't know enough about the author, or the context in which he is writing to really know what to think of it, but it does make me think. Basically what he says is that the jury is still truly out on how and even if man's activities on earth are causing a global rise in average temperature.

This is basically his main point: "Global temperature has risen about a degree since the late 19th century; levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have increased by about 30% over the same period; and CO2 should contribute to future warming. These claims are true. However, what the public fails to grasp is that the claims neither constitute support for alarm nor establish man's responsibility for the small amount of warming that has occurred."

Anyway, I find it interesting. I'm the type of person that likes for dissension to be free. The second we start silencing opposing voices we threaten scientific progress and the accountability that comes with having people research debated and questioned. We wouldn't stand for a government without having an opposition, we also shouldn't be content to have a scientific community where dissension, no matter how small the voices, are squashed out of political and monetary concerns (on both sides).

Have a read of the article for yourself here....it's only about a page long. http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008220

I think that whatever happens to be the cause of rising global temperatures, we still have good reason to quench our carbon emissions, and burn less fossil fuels which cause mass polution and bad air quality. Humans are here as caretakers of the environment, nature was not made FOR us, but rather for our maker, therefore we must stop acting like we were the only things made, and stop treating the rest of the world as there for our exploitation.

Matt's Visit

So there are nicer things about living closer to home. My brother was in England on a business trip and so he was able to stop by for a night and stay with me and see where I live. I took him up to Winchester on Friday night (cause in fairness it's a lot nicer than Southampton), and we had a drink at the Wykeham Arms (a famous pub that's become sort of our local as med students when we're at the Winchester campus). Then we went out for dinner at ASK pizza and pasta, on the high street, which was really nice.

Today, Saturday, we slept in a bit (i.e. till 10) and then headed into southampton so that matt could see it, could buy some prezzies for his kids, and then we headed for lunch at "Cowherds" a really nice pub/restaurant in Southampton. I had toad-in-the-hole it was pretty amazing food (thanks matt for taking me out by the way).

That little paper cut out is a miniature version of a school child who goes to school in Indianapolis, Indiana. A friend of mine who is a teacher made a project where each kid made a miniature version of themselves and they sent them around the world, to different people to see what experiences they get up to, so I've been trying to have her with me at the ready....still there's not too many exciting things that happen to me here.
I thought I probably needed a picture of my brother, just to prove to people that he actually came. It was good having him. I hope he comes back, and next time can bring Hailey, Eoin and Moia along as well.

Books that deserve my attention but probably won't get it...

Well, I made it back to southampton alright. It's pouring down rain here, but I'm just thankful to be back and finally done with travelling for the moment.

I've decided to put off editing on the essays i need to do in order to list a few books that I'm really wanting to read but that this medical school thing combined with the fact that i'm a really slow reader, are making impossible.

These aren't in order by the way.....

1) The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good by William Easterly (2006)

A rigorous study of the overall failure of the attempts of the North to transplant its institutions on the South and propel economic, social and political development.

2) Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth

-I've started this one, and it's good, really interesting. I'm finding myself having to look up a lot of the hindi/samskrit terminology he uses, but i'm finding his ideas fascinating....i'm only 20 pages in though, so it's still slow going, and i'm guessing i won't get to read anymore till easter.

3) Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell

-I want to read it partly for reasons of being conversant when it's brought up in conversation, but also partly to know what this book that i keep recomending to people really has to say....slightly worried.

4) From Wild Man to Wise Man: Reflections on Male Spirituality by Richard Rohr and Joseph Martos

-it's a topic that always interests me, almost because the term "Male Spirituality" can sometimes in our society be seen as an oxymoron. I also have a deep respect for Richard Rohr, partly be recomendation, partly from listening to him speak and partly from the work I read by him on the Enneagram.

5) Is the Reformation Over?: An Evangelical Assessment of Contemporary Roman Catholicism

-although I'm not sure I like the title of this book, cause the question itself almost sounds triumphalist to me.... i am deeply intrigued by the idea. There is so much that I see as good in the Catholic tradition, especially among the religious orders. There is so much history and depth of understanding in the traditions of spiritual direction, that I have many times thought about conversion. There is still however, in my mind, some things which keep me from doing this. I believe this book, by one of the worlds most reknowned scholar of modern christianity would greatly increase my understanding.

These are some of the first that come to mind. I'm also open to any suggestions if you have any that you think would be good for me to get a hold of.

I'm still alive...for now...

Sorry I've been out of posting for a while, I've been doing my Christmas tour of America and didn't seem to get much of a chance to sit down and ponder. I had a good time in California with relatives, my other mission for my time there was to do my shopping that i've been needing to do for a good 3 years, (and hopefully will last me for a good 3 years more). So now, my shoes are not falling apart, my jumper doesn't have a huge giant hole in the sleeve, and i have more than one pair of trousers besides jeans (sort of a necessity in med school..).

The nebraska wedding was great. John and James (two of my ex-floormates) were kind enough to give Benjamin and I a lift from Lincoln Nebraska to Chicago....it would have been only a 6-7 hour trip had we not woken up to a blizzard. As we were on the motorway still inside Nebraska a car infront of us slammed on it's breaks, we we're only going 40 miles per hour, as the snow and ice was thick, but as John swerved to avoid the car in front of us our car lost traction and we skidded accross four lanes of the road. Because for some reason or another God wanted at least one of us in that car to still be alive, our car missed all the other traffic and skidded into the muddy median between the two sides of the road. Again, by the mercy of God, we were able to push the car out of the deep, and covered with mud, were able to get back on our way. When we walked into a McDonalds to get some breakfast and to see if the storm would get any better, the woman behind the cash register burst out laughing....we did look pretty funny, one of us had a huge chunk of Mud on his forhead that he hadn't seen to clean off.....anyway...the rest of the trip to chicago was pretty uneventful....although we did have some good times dancing in the back seat.....okay so it was only me who was dancing.....

Chicago: it really felt like going home. It felt so good to be in a place that I had spent 4 years getting to know, with people who in some ways know me better than family. It was great to stay with Matt and Ryan, who I had been in a prayer group with four 2 years, Sam, also part of that group, was there with us for 2 nights as well. Sunday night was a good time just to catch up with everyone as we saw in the new year, and then on monday, as we all eventually woke up, we headed over to "Father Paul's" house for Kenyan Chai, and ended up having dinner there too. When I was part of the HNGR programme, during the integration/consolodation part of the programme, we had a class every wednesday night during my last semester at Wheaton. After that class each week Dr. Robinson (whom we all seem to lovingly call Father Paul) would invite us all over to his house just for discussion, mentoring and 'most importantly' Chai (usually made for us by his wife Margie). It was a really good time for me, and was especially good to discuss the whole emotional/personal side of how HNGR affected us than was really appropriate in the classroom. The HNGR programme really has the capacity to mess you up....in a good way that is, it literally turns your world upside down. Anyway, on monday we talked a lot about our lives now, how we were trying (to more or less success...less in my case) to live out the values and things that we learned during HNGR. Our conversation ranged from gossip about who was dating who, to the effect of online media (such as blogging) on society and internationally, to God and the restoration of the world from all the mess that we're in. It was seriously a great time. Dr. Robinson encouraged us all to see Blood Diamond so we all decided to see it then that night. YOU NEED TO SEE THAT FILM. It's not something that will make you feel good, actually it will probably make you feel sick, but it is important to see because the exact same things are still going on today, not just with the diamond trade but also with other resources like the coltan in our mobile phones found in Democratic Republic of Congo. Maybe with more awareness, something can be done....maybe.

Anyway, it was great being in Chicago, and although I felt so at home, and was overjoyed to see such close and valued friends, i got a sense of peace that right now I am where I'm meant to be, in Southampton. So Sunday, I'll be on my way, back to Glen Eyre Hall and the Bolderwood campus to rejoin the long trudge towards qualification. Let's just hope I haven't forgotten everything over the break.

THE Event of Last Year!

Mark and Dana's wedding was good times. I was really honoured to be a part of it. I can think of very few couples who i've thought were more suited for each other than Mark and Dana. Their love and mutual commitment to God was inspiring and they definitely displayed through their wedding ceremony that the most important part of their relationship was their commitment to God and what his purposes are for them as a couple. It'll be interesting to see where they end up in a few years.

Dana is awesome. What more can I say?

(Left to Right) 'Pulitzer prize nominated' Dakarai Aarons (star journalist for the Memphis paper "Commercial Appeal"), Benjamin Washam (my former roommate and the guy who keeps me on the straight and narrow), Steve Coddington (Mark's brother and best man), and then Me, now a good 10 lbs heavier, thanks to my 3 weeks in America.

Why vegitarians can hate animals too...

So I found this article in the Indipendent (from drugereport.com) that talke about how a UN report says that the world 1.5 billion cattle are responsible (either directly or indirectly) for more environment damaging emmissions than all forms of transportation (car, plane, ship) combined.

It serves as a pretty good example for why some of my friends are vegetearians. They aren't motivated necessarily by some extra love of the cute and cuddely, but more for a love of the earth and for proper uses of resources. I think they have a case. So I'm slowly trying to reduce my dependence on meat. I'm not an "all or nothing" type of guy, and I generally think the best policy is "everything in moderation" but I think we could all do with decreasing our dependence on meat for protein. I'm aiming for trying to have only two meat meals a week, I'm not there yet, but it's an aim...and on the upside it's healthier anyway.

Here's the article:

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2062484.ece

Just a side note...

I always find it difficult in this blog between posting my philisophical wonderings, convictions and dreams, but then also my day to day going ons as a socially active med student. The transition from one post to the next isn't usually smooth and often may seem in tension with one another. I guess that's the stuff of life though, the so many different speheres that we live in, so many different world views, practices and happenings. So I think I'll keep putting it all in, even if it doesn't fit just right.

Just a couple pics from our christmas ball...

So last weekend was our course's first annual Christmas ball. It was a 4 course meal with wine and champagne on arrival. Quite a fancy affair apparently (good thing I had brought my thrift-store tux with me....although I've been chided by Tim -in the bottom picture- for not calling a tux a "dinner jacket"....heaven forbid). It was a good time to get together with the entire year and just have some fun, the two years ahead of us in the graduate course were also there, so that was good too. Anyway, here's just a couple of the more decent shots that were taken during the night.

So this shot was probably my favourite of most of all the pics i've seen of the night. It shows reality, Emma Brandish, (dubbed the unofficial social secretary of our course) in the middle with her posee of guys around her, each one ready to do her bidding, just as she'd like it.


This is most of my year towards the end of the night, I actually think we look pretty good considering the litres of sweat that has come off of us, and the litres of alcohol that have gone into us. It was a good times though, definitely had my "bonding" time with coursemates now.

Tim and I on the coach ride back to campus. There ended up being two after-parties.... I decided to skip both so that i could get up in time to do work the next morning (didn't happen though, despite my best intentions). I found out however from Doug and Netty that the first after-party they decided to go to, everyone had fallen asleep within 15 minutes of getting back, so they left and phoned the other party to see how it was going. The people there said they were all just sitting around drinking cups of tea. Dissapointed and disheartened Doug and Netty decided they too would just go to home bed then. Wow, we must be getting older.

CROSS-ATLANTIC SOCIAL JUSTICE CHRISTIANITY

(So, being back home for the week was great. I really enjoyed it and got almost no work done, so I'm really going to have to lose my social butterfly mentality and get some work done these last 3 weeks before Christmas. By the way my brother is still in hospital, healing extremely slowly, and pretty much would do anything to get out of there, so keep him in your thoughts and prayers. )

So I've only been in the U.K. for a little over 2 months now but there's something that I've been noticing, and even though I'm not here that long yet, I still want to begin commenting on it.

Over the past 4 years when I was studying at Wheaton, I found myself involved with Christians who had a particular understanding of what Jesus' message was all about, it was my interaction with these people, communities, and ideas, along with God's incredible grace that kept me from throwing away my faith altogether. There's lots of ways people use to describe these Christians; some involve big theological definitions, some other terms are more derogatory, but the one (which I still don't like, but which I think most people understand) is basically these were "social justice" christians or maybe a better one is "wholistic" Christians. These people were trying to understand and live out the message of Jesus which involves both word and deed, basically speaking love and showing love.

Anyway, naturally being in a new place I've been trying to connect myself with these types of christians here, and I have found some really good groups of people. It's interesting though, but I'm finding that although these people hold sort of the same understanding of Christianity as my friends back at Wheaton did, their approach and ideals are quite a bit different. And I think that's a really good thing, the more i look into it the more i think we have to learn from one another.

Christians I've met in the UK are passionately concerned with structural, societal and environmental justice. They campaign for issues such as Fair Trade, and buying Organic food. They advocate what people call "Ethical" living. What I've come to understand by that term is that it means, trying to live a life where your purchases were produced fairly and safely, where you're day to day life has as little negative impact on the environment as possible and where even the money in your bank account savings is not being invested in unethical activities (such as the arms-trade).

These Christians wouldn't wear Gap (probably close to a sin), or buy "super cheap" things (at places like Primark- like a K-Mart), because if something is super cheap it has most likely exploited someone.

There is the understanding here that if you spend just that bit extra you are ensuring justice for the person you've bought it from (of course it's not that simple, but that's the general gist).







Churches hold Fair Trade Sales, and at my church a woman sells ecologically friendly cleaning supplies everyweek at the back by the information table. The last church I visited had successfully campaigned to have Southampton become a Fair Trade city.

In America however, although SJ christians are aware of these issues(Fair Trade, organic, non-GM modified food) they are not the focus, and usually less effort is put into them (I think i'd make an exception for Shane Claiborne though...who makes his own clothes). More effort/intention goes into the personal and relational side of justice issues. More common issues such as: where you live (whether in the subarbs - a seemingly cardinal sin- or in shafted areas -i.e. 'where Jesus would live......'), Racial Reconciliation, Who you spend you're time with, and Learning not Teaching become primary.

The mantra of some of the American SJ christians might be as Viv Grigg said (I think quoting someone else) "Earn as much as you can, Spend as little as you can and Give generously." People frequent the shops that UK SJ christians would think sinful, they buy the super cheap foods, they buy the super cheap clothes (well in fairness few clothes are bought at all, holes are a matter of spiritual maturity wherever you go). But they do this for the greater value of "identifying" with others, with the outcast and the shafted. The way of life is rather called "Simple Living" on that side of the pond.

I have to admit I'm not here long enough to even begin trying to understand UK multi-ethnic relations, from what little i've talked to people, I keep getting different opinions, and all I can tell so far is that the situation here is VASTLY different from the US and also from Ireland, who untill recently had never seen any sort of economic immigrants from other parts of the world. So with that in mind I won't even venture to see the Church deals with "racial-reconciliation" if that phrase even makes sense here.



Anyway, my point is that we need to learn from each other as we all have potential pitfalls. We need to be acutely aware of how we (wherever we are in the world) are part of intertwined webs of connection that mean what I buy in my local Tesco has an effect on someone living in Peru, or Spain. And that the clothes I wear, may be the handywork of exploited children and other economic slaves. Taking care of the environment is not an "add-on" for Christian faith, but is central to Christain doctrine from the very begining..... (try to answer the question of "what humans were originally meant to do?" without thinking about this).

At the same time, we must never forget that what is just as important is how we live our lives locally. As Shane Claiborne puts it (the poor don't need your money, they need your time, your relationship -). If we truly believe that the roots of "poverty" come from broken, perverted, and misused relationships, then it is only through relationship that "poverty" will be alieviated.



One of the quotes on my facebook page is by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, "It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start." That quote always cuts me deep..... how can I so be concerned about others far away when I treat my family so badly?



Our living out Christ's love must both be local and global, as we in a globalized world are very much connected to both levels. However, we must remember that one thing that separates Christian social action from it's secular or governmental cousins is that if something is Christian (i.e. following the example of Christ) it must be necessarily personal and relational for this is how Christ shows himself to us.

Homecoming

I've got the chance to go home this next week, which I'm really looking forward to, especially since I'm spending all of Chrsitmas in America, and won't have much time at home then. It's called reading week, so i'll need to be doing a good amount of work as well, but it will just be good to get to go home. My mother is leaving for America with Hailey and the kids on Wednesday, this will be a chance for Hailey to show off the kids to the relatives who haven't seen Moia yet, and will be a welcome break for my mother to see her family. They arrive just in time for American Thanksgiving, so I'm sure they're all looking forward to that.

My brother's still in hospital, and they were told that if they had waited another day to bring him in they would have had to amputate! He's doing okay, but his body is going through a battering with all the medication and anti-biotics that he's on, and who likes being in hospital this much? Hopefully he'll be out in a few days (just in time to have his wife and kids leave...ah well....great timing right?).

Still, I'm really looking forward to the week. If any of you are around and want to meet up let me know.