Italy 3: Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica

Okay, so I had to check the blog to figure out what I last wrote on. Rome was a great city to visit. The history is at the centre of the city and is right around you. The campground we stayed at is a little outside of the city, but there is a shuttle bus that bring the campers to the furthest most stop of the Rome train system connects to the subway line. For a pass that last three days and can be used for all trains only costs €11/person. We definitely made good use of the pass. The first day we went to the Vatican. The Museum there was spectacular. The tourist guide we bought suggested to go straight to the Sistine Chapel because if one follows the path of the Museum and send the appropriate amount of time marveling at the other masterpieces then all converge at the Sistine Chapel at the same time and there are often times when you must wait in line enter the room. So we knocked over people as we tore through the Museum and went directly to the Sistine Chapel. (TIP: we bought the personal audio guide (PAG) where you can listen to the history of the works at your own pace. The PAG at the Vatican is well worth the €6 it cost. The PAG at some museums are not as good but the one at the Vatican gets full marks.) The Sistine Chapel is remarkable and definitely lived up to the hype and perhaps exceeded it. The room itself is not that big but the art which surrounds you leaves one speechless. It is surprising how many standard pieces of art are contained in the that room. One of the most striking things to me was the immense theological message that went into each piece. These were not just painting but we arguing for a way of understanding the Scriptures. (Another interesting feature of the PAG was that they gave what one may consider as an “altar call” at particular points in the tour.) Leona found the history of the rooms profound. One of the rooms we were in, which has the famous painting of Aristotle and Plato debating philosophy, is where the Pope would sign important documents. I could write much more about the Vatican, but I must press on.

After the Vatican we went to St Peter’s Basilica. Another remarkable building. There is dress code for entering the Basilica and it is strictly enforced. We think is partly to keep venders at the end of the street who sell scarves making money as many women need to run back and one to cover either there thighs or shoulders. The Basilica also had remarkable artwork and of course the bones of St. Peter. We were able to walk right pass where the inscription was found. Only held back by several layer of glass.

Next: Old Rome

Italy 2: Into Alassio

Alassio was the nearest town to the campground we where staying in. In the early afternoon we made the trip down the mountain from our campground to the main office to buy a bus ticket because if you bought them ahead of time the ticket was half the price. When we arrived at the office then attendant told us that the bus to Alassio was ‘finished’ for the day. This seemed very odd and we were quite disappointed by this fact and mused about what to do. As we were trying to figure out an action plan we say a bus go by headed to Alassio. We decided that we did not trust the attendant, so we would just ‘buy a ticket for tomorrow’ and then wait for the next bus heading into Alassio. Leona went to buy the ticket and the attendant told her that the tickets for tomorrow we also ‘finished’. We then realized that the attendant was using the word ‘finished’ to mean ‘sold out’. So we went and waited at the bus stop and paid the cash price. Good thing we did not walk up the mountain back to the campground.

The bus stop is on the main road, when I say on the road that is exactly what I mean. You are standing on the shoulder of the highway just enough space to make sure that your toes do not get run over. I do not think there is more than 50 cms between the wall and the white line. The bus came quickly enough and we made the short trip into the city. The economy of the town seemed to be dependant on tourism, but it appeared that most of the tourist who were there were Italian. We walked around the main sections of the city and along the way stopped off at a tourism office. Overall there was not too much historical artifacts to see in the city, but Rome was the next stop so that did not trouble us too much. We had supper at one of the restaurants along the water. It was nice. I had pizza and Leona had bruschetta. The crust of the pizza was crisp on the edges but doughy in the centre. The cheese was what really made the pizza good. We then caught the bus back to the campground. I was a little worried about getting the right stop as the highway was quite dark and did not want to end up in Albenga (the next city) so we sat at the front of the bus. We successfully got off on the right stop and made trek up the mountain.

Next post: Rome

Italy 1: Well first to Switzerland and then to Italy

The trip to Italy was excellent. I am going to blog about it over the next little while (maybe a week or so) to offer some of the highlights. We left on Saturday (August 23) and drove to a camping place in Switzerland that is located on the Genfer See (Lac Leman in French, as it is in the French part of Switzerland). We arrived at the camp ground fairly late on in the evening as we were somewhat tardy in leaving Freiburg. The drive was good, but we forgot to change the settings on the Navi system to main highways so it lead us on the side street route. We pulled over and changed it, but still had problems when we crossed into Switzerland because we also forgot take off the avoid tolls command. To drive on the highways in Switzerland you need a toll sticker, a yearly expense, but the Navi considers that a toll so it gave us some weird route to take. We basically just followed the signs to Geneva and then changed it on the way. After we arrived we went to the restaurant at the camp ground. Paying the bill was interesting as we forgot (it seems that I am saying 'we forgot' a lot so far) to pick up a couple Swiss Francs to pay with when in Switzerland. We did not get a very good exchange rate for our Euros. The camp ground was nice, nothing too special. I am not sure whether this was a year end party or just a regular Saturday night at the camp ground, but there was a dance party going on with a live band. It was very funny... one guy was in full Scottish gear and doing some sort of swan dance in the aisle.

We left in good time on Sunday morning and headed to Italy. The drive was quite something as we drove through the Swiss Alps into the Italian Alps. We looked it up after we got back and the highest point in the Alps is higher than the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia. At times as we circled the mountains it appears as if we were about to drive off the edge of the road, but then the road would take a 120 degree turn and we would ascend/descend again. At one point I had to pass a guy riding a bike with oncoming traffic, not much space left on either side. There were numerous tunnels on the way to Italy and the Swiss tunnels looked well taken care of and clean. Not so much when you cross the border as the tunnels become dirtier and appear that little bit more suspect. When we made it to Genova we drove along the Mediterranean in the direction of France. The view was very nice as we were not that far from the water through out most of the trip. We had made reservation at a camp ground called Monti e Mare (MeM) just outside of Alassio. We missed it the first time by as the sign said Monti e Mare apartments. The road to the MeM apartments looked as if we drove up a hill were there was no space for campers. When we came to Alassio Leona went down the street looking for someone who she could ask were is the camp ground. I illegally parked in a Bus stop at the side of the road. Luckily Leona found someone who pointed us back 3 kms and we did not get a ticket or get bumped out of the way by a bus. In Canada (at least in main cities, or the cities I have driven in) it is often that three rights and a left (or three lefts and a right) allow you to go back the way you came. Not so easily done in these small Italian villages, and European streets often do not operate on a grid system. It took some time, and some narrow two way (but really more like one and a half) streets to get us going back toward the direction of the camp ground.

It turned out to be the MeM apartments, as we discovered that the camp ground was more of an after thought as most of the places were 'movable' campers that were lived in all summer or perhaps all year round (like Wesley Acres). There were only seven spots for campers. When we pulled up, relieved to be at the camp ground, the receptionist said, "We [are] full!" I responded, "We have reservations!...?" It turned out that we did not have reservations, not sure what happened, but I am sure it was on there end. Anyways, I started looking in the camper book to see what our options were, but Leona, resolve as ever, did not take 'No' as answer and said, "You need to find some place for us to stay for just tonight at least." The receptionist had Leona hop on the back of her Vespa and they drove up the hill to see what they could see. They returned having discovered a spot that we could station ourselves for the evening. The next morning we walked down, it is quite the work out going up and down the hill as it winds back and forth and is pretty steep, and talked to a different receptionist who told us that someone had just left and we could move to their vacated spot. The view from the camping spot was excellent, very nice to enjoy coffee from. We spent the rest of the day at the beach getting burned...

Next posts: "Into Alassio."

Road Trip - Italy

There have been no new posts lately because life has been pretty hectic here, or maybe more accurately I have been to lazy to update the blog. Well it seems that every time I think I have handed in my last form there is another of waiting to be filled out. I have completed the admittance procedures at the Uni, but still have to wait until Sept. 22 to get my student card and register for my classes, this requires a couple more forms. Oh well, such is the German system.

Now for something you will really like (wink: Rocky and Bullwinkle)... we are off to Italy tomorrow. We will be driving in a Ford Nugget van which has its own kitchen and sleep quarters. Very excited about the trip. Here is a sketch of what we will do, but you never know what way the wind will blow. When we get back I will fill in the details. We are going to drive to close to Geneva and park over night near a lake that is there, I think there is like 17 different names for it (which is the problem in Europe sometimes because you have the name for the place in the predominant language[s] of country, the butchered English translation and all the surrounding countries call it something else in their language). From there we will head to a camp ground in Alassio which is midway between Monaco and Genova and right on the Mediterranean Sea. We will stay there for 4ish nights. The next destination is Rome. We are going to stay at a camping parkplace just outside of the city which has a shuttle bus to a train which brings you to the old city centre. We are planning to stay there for another 4 days. I think this is the part of the trip that I (Christopher) am most excited about. Mostly because the Apostle Paul was there and even thought his footprint will be underneath levels of dust it is still will be standing where he was 2000 years ago (Of course Israel would be the best destination for nostalgia such as this, but you can't do everything at once). There are also countless other historical sites which will be captivating. After we finish our trip to Rome, we will head back north and stop at a camp ground in Tuscany in a city called Viareggio. There we are about 1.5 km from another beach which faces the Mediterranean Sea. Here we will spend another 4ish nights maxing and relaxing.

So hopefully I have not lost all our readership because of not posting enough. After we get back I will have lots to write about.

Universität Freiburg - One

So I had my first Doctoral Supervision meeting at Universität Freiburg with Prof. Dr. Irsigler. I had received notice a couple days earlier that I had successfully passed the evaluation and was accept as a Doctoral student. For a German student this process would have been done after two years, but for internationals they make sure that you will be allowed to graduate before you move to a different country. I had received tentative acceptance and was pretty sure that the full would come, but it is nice to have confirmation.

The meeting was good and were able to discuss my area of research for the future. It has been refined some from the Book of Twelve theme I was going to work on. It is now directed more broadly to post-captivity writings (Second Isaiah, Third Isaiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, and some Psalms) and the influence of Zephaniah as a bridge between the two periods. I will also be looking at the treatment of the poor and humble in this time period. The meeting was done half in German and half in English. He spoke German slowly and tired to use basic vocabulary and I spoke English. It was a good challenge for me and also an encouragement that I was able to follow and understand.

(Note: The picture insert has me standing in front of the building of Theologie Fakultät which is on the third and fourth floors.)

Doors are opening

The last month has been exciting but also difficult. It is now settling in that we are staying here and that we are not just on vacation. We have been trying to figure out what our life here will look like but it seems that patience really is a virtue. A virtue I do not have.

Before we left Canada I contacted my former boss, Laurie, and asked if World Relief Canada (WRC) had some contract work for me that I could do from Germany. While in Kenya I took a class on Sustainable Development and I was sad that I was not part of the relief and development (R&D) field anymore. Laurie had just heard about a job opening at Integral Alliance in England that did not require going into the office. I applied a couple of weeks ago and after the interviewing process was offered the position this week. It is an administrative position for the office of a global alliance of relief and development agencies (www.integralalliance.org). I am very excited to continue working in this field. I have learned so much at WRC and am thrilled to now be exposed to the international R&D community. So the pieces are coming together and life is becoming more normal.

Opfinger See (Lake) Bike Trip- Freiburg

The title sounds a lot more glamorous than the trip actually was, but it was a great way to spend the afternoon yesterday. The bike path system in Freiburg is excellent. You can “not just survive, but thrive” without a car (the quotation marks are from a title for a seniors’ group seminar at the United Church I worked at). It was a rainy sort of day but we did not let that stop us. There is a town outside of Freiburg that is about 5 kms to the west called Opfingen. Between here and there is a lake (some may say it resembles a large pond more than a lake) and we thought we would go there to check it out. There is a small lake that is really close to where we live, but it is not the swimming kind. It is nice to sit at, but we were hoping for something a little grander. The Opfinger See was not that exciting from a lake prespective but there is a very good bike path which goes all around the lake. If we had brought a blanket we would have sat and read for a little but since it rained earlier that day we decide against it. Then on the way back home we passed a Zoo/Farm which appeared to make up the entire town which was called Mundenhof. To our pleasure there was a really nice Biergarten there where we could sit and relax for a little while. So the cycle was about 15 or so kms long and we used plenty of energy. I think I managed the 1h30m of exercise recommended by Dr. Mai (Wink: Aaron).

Settling in Freiburg and visiting Köln

So it has been almost three weeks since I last wrote on here. Monday morning will mark the end of the third week in Germany. So far not much culture shocking or reverse-culture shocking, but I am sure that will come. The first week in Freiburg was filled with running around to different government offices. Registering as a resident of Freiburg was easy, but that was the only easy things so far. Everything else has been pretty complicated. Most of the people who are working the information desks seem to be clueless and instead have given either wrong information or no information at all. Oh well… things will be in order soon enough.

We were up in Köln (Cologne) last weekend to visit Leona’s brother. We had a good time up there. Everybody in Freiburg bikes and in a lot of cases it takes less time to bike somewhere than it does to drive. We went to a bike fleamarket in Köln and looked for some good deals. We both bought bikes, but for a Canadian we paid way too much for what we purchased. Because the demand for is so high, the cost is also. We have already put them to good use. On the Sunday we went to one of the many parks in Köln to play some fussball (soccer). We teamed up with a group there and played hard for a good two hours. I had not run like that in a long time. I did manage to score one goal in the game, but my team lost 6-4. I have finally recovered and my muscles do not hurt anymore. (Picture: I am in the grey shirt).

So that is the state of things at this moment.

Arrival in Hamburg, Germany.

Well… where to start. We are in Germany now and are presently riding the DB train to Freiburg. We arrived in Hamburg, which is on the opposite end of Germany. Hamburg is one of the most Northern cities in Germany while Freiburg is one of the most Southern. The train left Hamburg at 18:24 and will arrive in Freiburg just after midnight. It is presently 19:50 which means there is still plenty of train riding left for us.

The flight to Hamburg was one of the most bumpy that I have been on so far. On the landing the wings were moving back and forth. Not extremely but enough for me to pay close attention the ground. For those who travel with Airtransat I have a tip for you, “Book your seats ahead and take the first row that has two chairs by themselves.” Leona and I did that and we had more leg room than anyone else and did not have to worry about pumping elbows or people getting up to go to the washroom. It was well worth the 20 dollars.

We had hoped that when we arrived in Hamburg that we would be entering the next day remnants of a Euro Cup win by Germany, but sadly that was not the case. We did see a couple people at the airport who still had their game faces and attire on, but were not in the same mood they would have been if the game went our way. Well there is always 2010. For once our luggage came out right away, but I was stuck in the non-EU line, pretty much the last person to go through. Leona breezed through the EU line and was waiting patiently with our bags on the other side.

We made it downtown without any problems and found our hotel (Fuerst Bismark). The criterion was that it had to be close to the train station and it turned out to be directly across. It looked like it could be a block or two when we booked it, but were pleasantly surprised. We had to wait about 2hours before we could check in so we walked to a bakery down the street and had some coffee and croissants. It is hard to explain unless you have had it, but bread is different in German. It is firm on the outside, yet so soft on the inside. This bakery did not let us down. (BTW: my ears just popped, I think we are near the 300km mark). After we checked in we took a 3 hour nap. Most of the time it is not good to sleep after you travel but to fill out the day as if you had gotten up with the rest of the city, (especially myself as I could not sleep on the flight), but I think it worked out well for us this time as today we felt pretty much on schedule. We got up at 17:00 and went out to see the city. Hamburg is a port city so there is lots of water around. There are a couple advertisements which call it the Venice of Germany. (I will report on whether I think it lives up to that standard after going to Venice, whenever that is). The city was very nice we walked along the shopping strip and to a canal which flows down the centre of the city. We had supper at a nice little place and then walked back to the hotel. We went to bed early enough.

Today we got up at 9:30 and went to the same bakery as the day before for breakfast. And then check out. We brought our suitcases and put them in lockers so we did not have to haul them around the city. It was money well spent. Then we walked to the Habour front to see the boats. While we were there one humongous ship came in, being pulled by a small tug boat, which seemed tiny in comparison. We had lunch along the waterfront. Overall the day was quite warm, but at the waterfront the breeze was refreshing. We slowly made our way back to the city centre and then waited for our train to come in. The visit to Hamburg was nice and allowed me to see another German city. I will have to go to Berlin and then would have touched all four corners in Germany. Maybe sometime later this summer… Happy Canada Day (I know this is posted a day late, but I wrote it on Canada Day, my first out of the country).

Last Reflections on Kenya

The second indigenous church denomination that we visited was the African Brotherhood Church (ABC). We spent four days traveling to different ABC churches and projects. The first day we went to the ABC headquarters in Machakos. After a brief tour of the property we enjoyed a special tea time with the bishop. The bishop’s wife, Mary, was traveling with us throughout the trip and it was interesting to see her in her home and usual surroundings. The Canadians in the group did not quite realize what it means to be the bishop’s wife until we went to the ABC headquarters. She is very well respected and the only thing I can really compare it with is the first lady of a country. During our visits of ABC projects we were amazed at how excited and nervous ABC members were to greet the Deaconess Mary. To us she was just Mary. After tea the bishop made himself available for questions and we had interesting discussions. I was impressed by his sincerity and openness. There were no wrong questions and he seemed excited about the dialogue. We also visited one of the community development offices near the city which focuses on agriculture. We toured their garden and learned some very interesting things about gardening for the poor.

On the second day we visited the Africa Integrated Theological College (AITC), an ABC college in Mitaboni. The school principal gave us an overview of the school and afterward most of us felt that we knew more about the AITC than about our own schools. The school property was very interesting, there is a primary school on the grounds as well and we enjoyed taking pictures of the kids and seeing them laugh. We were as much an attraction to them as they were to us.

The school has a house at the end of its property called Carey Hall, named after Carey Theological Seminary. We were told that that is where the Canadians stay as there is a joined certificate program at the school which is often taught by Canadian professors. As we walked into the house I thought that it would be so nice if Chris could teach there and we could stay in that house. We will see…
On the third day we drove to Kibwezi deeper into Kamba territory and visited the Agricultural Research and Training Centre (ARTC) of the ABC. The ARTC is basically a farm with many small sections. After a walk through the farm we visited with a Guardians of Hope group and they gave us all Kamba names. That was so fun. My Kamba name is Mutindi, which means ‘the one who stays with us.’ On our last day with the ABC we visited two schools and headed back to Acacia Camp just outside Nairobi. We stayed at Acacia for the remainder of our trip.
The camp is situated in on a large farm that feels more like a national park. We were told that usually almost three times as many animals can be found on this farm as Nairobi National Park. We saw many giraffes, wild beasts, zebras, antelopes and so much more. We were woken up by monkeys jumping on our huts!!! I can definitely recommend staying at this place if you are ever near Nairobi.
I could go on forever about my trip to Kenya. I loved it, I learned so much and I can’t wait to go back.

The African Christian Church and Schools

The Africa Christian Church and Schools (ACC&S) is one of the two indigenous church denominations that we visited in Kenya. We visited the ACC&S for three days and really got a good overview of their structure. On the first day we went to their headquarters and bible school. The moderator (highest position within the denomination) and some other leaders met with us and made themselves available for some questions and discussions.
On the second day the ACC&S development director, Henry, took us to a village called Maai Mahiu in the Rift Valley. Even though the people in the town were not directly affected by the violence following recent elections they hosted internally displaced peoples (IDPs) in one of the church yards. Some of the pastors and post-elections violence victims met with us to tell us their stories. On January 2, 2008 around 7pm people from nearby villages started coming to the town looking for shelter. People in the market did not know how to help them but directed them to the African Inland Church (AIC). About 40 pastors from the area and all different denominations soon met and mobilized their congregations to bring food to the AIC in Maai Mahiu. The area in general is very modest and I am sure people did not have all this extra food just lying around. At the end the churches of the region hosted this IDP camp for over two months including children’s programs and daily adult devotions. Two of the post-election violence victims told us of their story. They were sisters-in-law and both families had lost everything during that time. They had recently travelled back to their homes and found everything destroyed. They were quite certain that they would never be able to return. This was an incredible testimony of Christians coming together and helping those in need.


On the third day we travelled far into tea country to visit some of the ACC&S Guardians of Hope (people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS) programs. I was very impressed by how hard-working these people were and how much they could accomplish with so little. The ACC&S gives a cow to each family in this program and I could not believe the difference one cow could make. The first born calf is returned to the program but that is all the family has to repay. The manure from the cow greatly increases crop productivity in their gardens, the families receive milk and can breed cows. It was really interesting to visit these families in their homes. The landscape of tea country has also burnt itself into my memory. It is absolutely beautiful.
I will try to write at least one more reflection on Kenya before we leave Canada…so stay tuned.

Reflections on Kenya

Since my return I have been surprised how many people ask me about more information on our blog, specifically about my trip to Kenya. So I have decided to write some more detailed reflections concerning my time in Kenya over the next couple of days.

The last Kenya update was about Garissa and after reading my update I feel I left out so much. We arrived in Garissa during the late afternoon and I was a bit oblivious to the safety issues that a big group of white people represented in this place. I just wanted to walk out of the gates of the hotel that we were staying in and see the market and meet people. Garissa is just so different than any other place I had visited, a city in the desert... so exciting. But contrary to my hopes we did not leave the hotel, instead Mohammed, a young Muslim Somali/Kenyan man met with us in one of the hotel meeting rooms. Mohammed shared his story with us... his mother was a Somali Muslim and his father was a Kenyan Christian. You can imagine how complicated his childhood was. He grew up Christian but later converted to Islam. His life story does not make us Christians look good. Well his story was very insightful into how deep the divide is between Christians and Muslims in Garissa and that conversion from one faith to another is not always an individual decision. Mohammed joined us for dinner and I sat next to him. I had so many questions and tried hard not to overwhelm him. We had a nice talk about the differences and similarities between Christianity and Islam. At the end there were many things we did not agree on but I think we both felt that we had learned a lot about each others faith.

The next morning in Garissa had a full schedule. First we went to the Tuberculosis Clinic that Mohammed is responsible for and then we visited an elementary school.

The TB clinic was very interesting, wee did not get to visit with any patients as the size of our group would have been too overwhelming but we got a tour of the property. The buildings were more than modest and the kitchen looked like it was from the Middle Ages. The purpose of this clinic is to provide patients with food as the medication to treat TB, which is provided by the goverment free of charge, must be taken with a good meal. Mohammed and another woman administer the medication and provide healthy meals.

For the school visit the Praxis students were split up in groups and we had to preprare lessons for each class room. Most groups told a bible story but replaced overtly Christian symbols. The purpose for the visit was to teach these mostly Somali children good morals and thereby show that Christians have good values. We had learned that Christians are perceived very negatively by many Muslims in this area. We had a great time with the children and I think they enjoyed our visit as well. We left Garissa right after the brief visit at the school.

Many of the Praxis students felt that the visit in Garissa was too short. I think one of the strangest things about the Garissa visit was that because there were so many white people in our group we represented a security risk. Our leaders did not feel that it was safe for us to stay in Garissa any longer than we did.

I will try to write more tomorrow.

More Updates Coming

Just so you do not think we have abandoned the Blog, I am leaving this message. More updates about what happened throughout Leona's trip to Africa will be left shortly. Since it is less than two weeks before leaving for Germany we have been a little preoccupied with making final arrangements.

One thing that really complicated things is the hail storm which we had in Pickering on Monday. We were supposed to hand over our car to the people who are taking over our lease on Tuesday. The car was hit so badly with hail that we were unable to do so. At this moment our car is in the shop getting fixed as it had around 100 dents because of the hail. Luckily we have good insurance. I love these little lessons about trusting in God to work things out.

CSBS- Update

Just a little interesting antidote from the CSBS conference. When my brother and I arrived at the UBC campus we checked the schedule and made our way over to the Hebb building where we were going to listen the Hebrew Bible session. We were greeted by a campus employee who informed us that the entrance we should use to arrive at the session of biblical studies was in the alley behind the dumpsters. Apparently a fitting place for lofty conversations concerning God's written word.

CSBS Vancouver

I (Christopher) will be leaving to go to Vancouver for the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies (CSBS) annual meeting. This year it is held at UBC. Meetings are held throughout Canada. Since the meeting is so close to my parents house I thought I would take the oppurtunity to go. The meeting consists of session in which various scholars present papers based upon research they have been doing throughout the year. This is normally a good place to test out a new idea. I submitted a paper based upon the thesis which I wrote as part of the requirements for my MA degree at McMaster Divinity College (Hamilton, ON). I am presenting on Tuesday, June 3. The paper is titled "These are the Days of the Prophets." I have posted the abstract below. I hope to publish this at a later point.

_____________________________
The scholarly conversation concerning Ezra-Nehemiah has largely been focussed on diachronic methods. Tamara Eskenazi was the first to consider Ezra-Nehemiah synchronically. Her work was an exceptional as well as essential step forward. However, her focus on the unity of Ezra and Nehemiah causes her to overlook the plot structure of Ezra 1–6. In this study a plot structure is outlined for Ezra 1–6 based upon the עלה (go up) imperative and the בנה (build) imperative which are given by Cyrus in Ezra 1:2–4. The Judean people are able to accomplish the עלה imperative without conflict, but the בנה imperative is not completed so easily as the temple rebuilding project reaches a standstill in Ezra 4:24. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah then intervene and become the catalyst for the resolution of the narrative (5:1, 6:14). This study highlights the narrative role of the prophets in Ezra 1–6.

Kenya Update No. 5

Here is another update from Leona.

__________________________
On Monday we drove to Garissa. That was so interesting. Here in Nairobi it has been warm for a couple of hours during lunch time but otherwise kind of cool, but still nice. When we drove to Garissa you could really feel the weather change. It was so hot and sticky when we got there and it is only five hours of Kenyan road (which is full of pot holes sometimes and therefore a slower drive). It really felt that we were driving into the desert. Nairobi is very green and as we got farther away the landscape became very sandy. Closer to Garissa we saw many dried-out rivers, Camel herds, and just incredible poverty. The conditions that people lived under are hard to describe. We saw many little huts (if you can even call them that) that were made out of sticks. And another thing that I found so interesting was that we were driving throught the desert and there were people walking along the road, I could not figure out what they were doing there. We could see for miles and there were no houses or anything in sight. And it was not only a few people. It was just so interesting and shocking. We were only in Garissa for one evening and one morning and we saw some things there, but I thought that the drive was the most interesting part.

Kenya Update No. 4

I (Christopher) was sitting in the Tim Horton's at Warden and Eglinton and my cell-phone rang and it was Leona calling from Kenya. This may have been one of the more expensive phone calls in our life, but it is obviously worth it. She was visiting her former co-worker in Nairobi. The group had a free afternoon to tour the city after the church service on Sunday.

This week they are making the trek east in Kenya to Garissa from Nairobi. She mentioned that she kissed a giraffe twice the previous day and has been seeing a fair amount on interesting wildlife. One of the components of last weekend was to learn how to bargain at the local markets. The African students were to aid the Canadian students. When I talked to her she said that she had used her new found bargaining skills to purchase numerous interesting items.

Hope you are enjoying these updates.

Kenya Update- May 23, 2008

I talked to Leona last night from the Lukenya hotel in which she was staying. Today she left for Nairobi and will be there for most of the next week. Last week was filled mostly with the class portion of the trip. The plan is see the sites around Nairobi for the next couple days which she is really excited about. On Sunday afternoon she plans to see one of her former co-workers who lives in Nairobi.

Second Update from Kenya

Here is a summary of the second update from Leona:

---------------

The resort is soooo amazing. We were hanging out at the pool today over lunch. We are getting so spoiled. It is unbelievable. The food is great our room is huge and beautiful, my roommate is great. I was ready to move out of my comfort zone, but it seems that I do not have to at least this week. I had a crepe with chocolate sauce for breakfast!!! I was going to tell you, I was so mad at myself yesterday. I was going to look for the Nile when we were flying, because we could see clearly, but I fell asleep right before we flew over it. Others of the group saw it. Too bad, eh. Maybe on the way back.

-----------------

First Update from Kenya- May 16- 2008

I am here and everything went well. The place we are staying at is absolutely stunning and we don't even know what it looks like during the day. It was dark out when we left the airport. But we saw the landscape when flying in. It is so beautiful.

You would not believe the drive we had from the airport to this place. Absolutely nuts. It took us probably an hour and a half. I thought the road would be bad outside of Nairobi, but I can't really imagine them being much worse.

Anyway, I am having a great time, can't wait to wake up in the morning and see Africa on the ground. Monkeys and giraffes are supposedly all around here.

Introduction

...so this Blog will provide a way for those of you who are interested in what Leona and I are doing. While in Kenya (she left on Friday, May 16) Leona will be sending me updates and I will be posting them up here. We will continue to use this Blog while in Germany to chronicle the different places that we visit. Hope you enjoy.