Month: December 2016

Wednesday was my last day on campus for this year. It was filled with good connections. The cafeteria/restaurant has a Christmas buffet called a Julbord, which is a highlight for the Swedes. With Maria’s help, I had my first herring. It was better than expected, but I’ll fill up on the other options.

The room where the staff has morning fika, coffee/tea break, has had a special feature this Advent season…

The flashing disco lights behind the Jesus statue gives a very different effect!

We caught a taxi at 4:15 am on Thursday the 22nd to get to the Arlanda (Stockholm) airport. The lines were long at the airport and each flight was delayed a bit, but not enough to miss our connecting flight or make problems with the pick up.

I managed to catch up with some movies (actually 4) with a little sleep. Anya managed to get 5 movies in the long flight–but no nap. With our Global Entry passes, we zipped through customs without any lines!

We had lunch at Inn and Out burgers, picked up a few things at Walgreen’s, and drove over the Santa Cruz mountains to the Monterrey Bay, to stay at my in-law’s condo at the beach. The first night was dinner at one of the family’s favorite places.

There is way too much food! I asked my father-in-law to order the kid’s menu fish and chips, as senior citizens can order off that menu, but I could only eat about half the food. A take-away box took the last piece of fish home, and this with a kid’s menu portion!

Staying up for food meant that we managed to stay away until about 8 pm. This is amazing for me! And after nine hours of sleep, I was able to stay awake all day today. However, I have been thick-headed all day and not very productive with my Swedish lessons yet.

I did a little Duolingo and listened to my Swedish podcasts while walking, but with a lot of rain most of the day, it meant that I only had one walk about 30 minutes long before the rain started again. (On good weather days, I’m out walking for at least an hour, twice a day.)

I was the first one to then end of the sandy spit (no other people or footprints in sight) after some stormy weather, so there were some sand dollars inviting me to pick them up. I brought them back for my sister-in-law. (I won’t be taking them back to Sweden.)

The sky started to clear up just before dinner, which meant there was some rays of light sneaking through the clouds.

I hope my head won’t be so thick tomorrow. I do need to get some serious Swedish studying done and still write a final exam.

But, I made it again to 8 pm today. I’m ready to get to bed.

With blessings,

Beth

Actually, the apocalyptic literature session is over. In 90 minutes today, I gave an introduction to this genre and an overview of the book of Daniel. It went well, overall—considering the time limitations—though there will be a couple things to tweak next time. I do have to translate myself from my normal English (yes, a bit academic) to simplified English. Everyone has English as a second or third language, so I’m endeavoring to eschew obfuscation.

I think my main goal of demystifying some surreal apocalyptic imagery in order to focus on the main messages of the book came across with a couple exercises engaging the text. The student responses demonstrated careful reading. I’m also grateful for Ian Provan’s guideline of interpreting the unclear through what we know of the clear, not the other way around.

Speaking of clear… There was some clear ice today.

All the reflection is the glare of the lights off the ice. It had melted as the temperatures got up over freezing during the middle part of the day, but as the sun set (at 2:45 pm), the temperatures dropped.

The studded bicycle tires really are amazing. I would rather bike over this square than to walk over it! However, if ever I fall, I would rather fall when walking than fall from sitting up on a moving bicycle with various protrusions of metal cascading down around me! It seems that the chances of falling are reduced, but the risk of injury is increased. Which is worse?

My teaching is done for the year. I still have one chapel session on Friday, but I expect a small group. I do have plenty to do: an exam to write, a Swedish class paper to revise, a research paper to develop (6 Feb deadline), etc. I also have to pull everything together for the travels to USA. There’s lots of details: activating dormant auto insurance and American cell phone accounts, international travel insurance, bringing all the documentation and keys that I need for some tasks when at home in Bellevue, laundry and packing, etc. I’m finding myself becoming stressed about managing them all.

Time to go to sleep and methodically deal with them over the next couple days.

With blessings,

Beth

Sunrise: 8:50 am

After church, the sun was out.

Sunset: 2:45 pm

It will be nice being in the Bay Area of California for Christmas, where it will be warmer (in the low 60s) with almost 4 more hours of light per day. (Afterwards, we head up to the Seattle area for some home matters and seeing friends.)

After church, our first month hosts, Jim and Christina, invited us and another American-Swedish couple, Donna and Lennart, over for fika. This is a nice group who understand the complexities of adjusting to Sweden. Both Swedish spouses are excellent in Swedish; Christina works in an English-speaking environment.

Donna took Anya to a yarn store after fika, so she’s knitting now before she heads out to dinner at a friend’s house. She was invited over for lutefisk (or lutfisk in Swedish). I thought that it was just the Scandinavian heritage people in the USA that ate lutefisk, but I now know that some, but not many, Swedes eat it at Christmas time.

I will spend the rest of the evening with some Swedish study and finishing up getting my class ready for tomorrow. The topics are apocalyptic literature and the Book of Daniel.

With blessings,

Beth

Today was full and full of Swedish. My co-teacher was teaching the minor prophets, 12 books in 180 minutes. Yes, it was in Swedish, so I could get the main issues, but I miss the details. I looked at various resources along the way to remind myself of content I last dealt with in-depth in seminary. (Memories of you, Pam.) I’ll be teaching them next time the class is offered.

Chapel (in Swedish) came between the two 90-minute lessons (one can’t say class in this context, as the class is the room of people; one must say the equivalent of lesson).

Lunch was the annual Christmas dinner, or Julbord.

There was a sense of I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m among friends. I did manage to avoid the herring! (Sorry, Bill, I didn’t enjoy it for you!)

This is a time of gathering all the employees with a few words (in Swedish) from the rektor.

However, this was also the time to say a formal goodbye (in Swedish) to our beloved finance and tech person, Janne, after 18 years here. There were tears and hugs. He also shared a touching goodbye with moist eyes and ended with “Jag älskar ni” (I love you in Swedish). He will be missed as he was the problem solver in many ways, even for me. Before I had a bank, he made sure my rent and utility bills were paid and taken off my salary without a hitch.

At the end, gift baskets were given to everyone as a Christmas gift.

Several of us went off to a meeting for the Bible school (in Swedish). The leader talked really fast (in Swedish) because of some time limitations between meetings. So, I could again track on the macro level, but I couldn’t keep up with the micro level.

Then a few of us went off to a meeting for the bachelor degree thesis orientation (in Swedish). I tracked a bit better here, because I know the fundamental issues of writing research papers.

Then our exegetical group of 5 students and the 2 exegetical theology (biblical studies) faculty (Jim and I) went to a classroom to talk about the distinctives of writing in our discipline–in ENGLISH! The students will still write in Swedish, but they all are comfortable talking in English. Whew! (Jim and I are actually both Americans.) They were a great group of students, so I’m looking forward to working with them.

Anya had a class canceled and no classes after lunch, so she took the train to Stockholm for some Christmas shopping for friends. She loves the city, and this is a safe trek that we’ve done several times together or she’s done with a friend.

She also tried to pick up a package at the post desk at the local grocery store. They wouldn’t let her pick it up with her photo ID Swedish residency permit card! They said that she needed her passport too! Crazy. So, there will be a trip tomorrow with her passport.

More Swedish practice and off to bed. I’m tired with all this Swedish. I only wish I could objectively see progress. I just have to keep on keeping on.

With blessings,

Beth

 

The Saint Lucia (A.D. 283–304) of Syracuse, Sicily, is celebrated in Nordic countries on December 13. The Sunday service had a preview of coming attractions.

On Sunday evening, Anya and I were invited over for fika at a colleague’s house. There were several colleagues and others from church for a nice gathering–with an awesome homemade cheesecake. There were no references to Lucia but great conversation (in English for quite a bit of it).

With the snow earlier in the day, we were glad for our studded bike tires.

On Monday, I joined my friends in språk cafe at the church for some practice of Swedish.

They also had a little end of the year fika with the saffron buns that are traditional for Sankta Lucia day. I sat with a nice Kurdish man with pretty good Swedish after being here with his family for two years and some basic English.

While at the church, we saw the public middle school practicing their Sankta Lucia program that would take place the next day. This is amazing to me! This is a Christian saint who continues to be venerated at a church in one of the most secular countries in the world. Yet, my classes in a school of theology are too be taught in a non-confessional way (more on this below), but middle school youth can go to a church and sing a song about a Christian saint!

Today at Johannelund, the Bible school led a Sankta Lucia celebration with the traditional saffron buns and glogg (non-alcoholic, this is a dry campus).

While the Swedish government has legislated that all accredited (thus government funded) instruction is to be non-confessional, there are optional reflection times for each course to discuss faith content in addition to the daily chapel times (called morning prayer with a weekly mass with the Eucharist). One reflection time was today. My co-teacher led this, as he is a Swede, and it helps to have faith discussions in one’s mother tongue. However, that meant that I missed some of the details.

I did tell him that I needed to take off a bit early, because I was asked to repeat part of my presentation from the research seminar two weeks ago for those who were not able to attend. It was during lunchtime, so students and faculty could come. The one student who came last time came again and brought some friends, as well as a visiting Tanzanian pastor on a cultural exchange (bundled up in a parka the whole time). In the group were two former rektors (principals) of Johannelund and the director of the Swedish Evangelical Mission (actually, my boss’ boss!). This was an amazing opportunity to be a cheerleader for a global perspective and encourage the continuation of the long-term year relationships in Africa (some 150+ years), especially with Ethiopia and Tanzania.

In addition to demonstrating how amazingly Johannelund is positioned for the rise of world Christianity in Africa (and that no other academic or theological program in Sweden was as well positioned for this global reality), I encouraged them to consider how we can shape our pedagogy to not only be more faithful to our mission (within the Swedish boundaries) but to go beyond the “epistemic hegemony” of only Western “scientific” epistemology and engage the other ways of knowing to connect with the Global South. (For those who care, I quoted two past Society of Biblical Literature presidential addresses by Elizabeth Schüssler Fiorenza [1987], who advocated for a rhetorical approach, and Fernando Segovia [2014], who said we miss out if we don’t engage the epistemologies from the global south.) I sense it went well, but also how I understand a bit more about why I was brought here. I don’t have all the answers, but I’ve already be able to stimulate some important conversations with some very bright and passionate people!

Afterwards, I was talking with my big boss. He was hoping that this conversation could continue. I mentioned that I would recommend my PhD adviser, who is much wiser than I am. Because my adviser was rektor of my Norwegian institution, he understands more of the Scandinavian issues of a higher education institution owned by a mission agency in a secular context. Providentially, my adviser has been invited to Johannelund in February as part of the retirement celebration symposium that they are throwing for my Old Testament co-teacher (the one I will follow at OT instructor). It seems that there is a kairos opportunity here (meaning a Providential window of opportunity), and I get to be a part of it!

More on the non-confessional class content… I had one more amazing conversation today with a former student (who is overflowing with lovely personality). While teachers are limited in what can be said in formal class times (but are not restricted in the reflection times), students are not. So, in talking with this former student, I realized that my last few years of developing learner-centered instruction (with an amazing pedagogy coach from Seattle U) may be a creative solution here. I can facilitate the lessons so that students are unleashed in ways that make the learning more holistic. There still needs to be more reflection time, but I’m used to that. This course has about 39% less class time and about 25% more reading that what I had in the USA. Perhaps the conversations can continue for those who want to join me for lunch!

Yes, Lucia is still celebrated for light in the midst of darkness. One version of her story is that that crown of candles on her head freed up her hands so that she could carry more food to the Christians hiding in the dark catacombs in Rome who were fleeing persecution. Perhaps today, we not only bring light, but like Lucia, we can be innovative as to how to develop important means of ministry in spite of some limitations.

And I close with what greeted me this morning, a stunning sunrise that took forever to rise.

With blessings,

Beth

We had plans to go to Stockholm today. We were going to shop for some Christmas gifts to bring back to the US. However, when I was practicing listening to Swedish news last night, I heard that it was the Nobel Prize celebration in Stockholm today.

There would be thousands of people converging on the city. So, we opted to stay in Uppsala.

Anya biked through the inch of new snow to the mall. I stayed home and plowed through Amazon. There is no Amazon.com in Sweden, but Amazon.UK does ship to Sweden with some shipping expenses. Fortunately, they aren’t too exorbitant for the few special things we can’t easily find here.

The afternoon included Swedish lessons for me and baking cookies by Anya.

With being a little bit off center yesterday, it was good to have a slow day at home today. After a busy week of new course preparation for double classes on Monday and Friday, it was good to put a chunk of time into Swedish learning. It still is not coming along fast enough for what I want, but I know every bit helps.

With blessings,

Beth

This week had two days of classes with double sessions. I had taught Isaiah before, but in half a semester instead of 90 minutes on Monday. Today, Friday, I had 135 minutes for Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Normally, it would be 180 minutes, but the archbishop was visiting. She gave a short homily and then talked for about 40 minutes on ecumenical work she’s be part of, including Lutheran and Roman Catholic dialogues. About 5 weeks ago, she was with Pope Francis, who was visiting Sweden. I could get the big picture of her talk but not many of the details.

I greeted her afterwards, in English, relaying that I was new to Sweden. She taught for about 6 years at the Lutheran seminary in Chicago, and I had a friend from Tanzania who was CFO there. So, we did a little small world connection. She asked me where I did my studies, so I realized that she wanted to try to peg me on the ideological spectrum.

The day just felt a little off, and I don’t know why. Yes, the room wasn’t set up when I arrived, because a conference was there the day before. But the staff all pulled together to get enough tables and chairs set up while I got things set up to teach. Yes, new course content is not so smooth as the third time through. So, with Jean’s wisdom, I will know that I eventually live into this material and not obsess over it today. There were some good moments which continued with a couple students after the class ended. Yes, I was tired when I had a talk time with a Johannelund student after lunch. Yes, I worked through asking questions, and questions are challenging for me, but I did figure something out. A typical question, especially a yes-no question, starts with the verb and “do” usually disappears. So, “Do you speak Swedish?” becomes literally, “Speak you Swedish?” or “Talar du svenksa?” But if you are using a relative pronoun phrase, it goes first. So, “Which languages do you speak?” becomes literally, “Which languages speak you?” or “Vilka språk talar du?” and the relative pronoun has to match in gender and number. Yet, I struggled through this informal lesson. Fortunately, Rebecca is very patient. She did bring some nice saffron cake with lingon berry whipped cream for fika. (The spell check doesn’t know lingon or lingonberry!) Still, the day still feels a bit off.

The other culinary treat of note this week was dinner out in Uppsala on Wednesday. Our financial person (works in “ekonomi”) is moving to another job at the end of the year after about a dozen years at Johannelund. So, almost all the employees went out to dinner at the Radisson’s restaurant in the city center. I had moose. I had to try it, and I liked it better than the reindeer I had in Norway. However, the reindeer burger was prepared differently, so I’m not comparing apples to apples (a vegetarian metaphor in a carnivorous discussion).

After my 30 Nov. research seminar, one colleague presented me with some information about Johannelund’s relationship with Ethiopia. I have heard about the Makane Yesus Church, the Lutheran church in Ethiopia, for many years. It is now the world’s largest Lutheran church! Now, I know that the Makane Jesus church was started by Swedish missionaries from the Swedish Evangelical Mission (EFS in Swedish, and Johannelund is owned by EFS). Right outside my classroom and close to my office is a picture of the EFS missionaries in Africa and India from the late 1800s and early 1900s.

So, I sought out the picture of the missionaries named in the book.

B.P. Lundal died on Dec. 11, 1885 at age 45 and is buried in what is now Umkulu, Eritrea. What an amazing legacy.

Let’s hope that a good night’s sleep and a weekend will help me get back on track.

With blessings,

Beth

Sweden is celebrating the 250th year of freedom of the press. They were the first country in the world to establish laws that gave these rights to all citizens.

http://www.government.se/articles/2016/06/the-swedish-press-act-250-years-of-freedom-of-the-press/

A healthy democracy needs a free press, which was something I learned years ago from my favorite movie, Gandhi.

It is interesting that I am dealing with two new modes of communication today.

First, I received a publication offer for my dissertation today. Thanks to my adviser opening doors for me, I have this wonderful opportunity. Now, I have to figure out the details. I won’t get rich of this, but it is an important next step in the professional development journey.

Second, my employer handed me a new iPhone. They determined that it was less expensive to give everyone new mobile phones that to put in a new telephone system in an old building after the old system crashed. Anya was excited to check out the new iPhone. Now I have to figure out the details of this phone and guidelines for use.

For this morning’s class, I had 100 minutes for the Book of Isaiah, as I was able to use 10 minutes from the previous lecture taught by my colleague. There is too much to talk about all the forms of communication utilized in class, but this was the first time my colleague heard me teach. He was very encouraging and commented that he was impressed with the preparations that go into using PowerPoint in class. This session was just in English, because I didn’t enough time to prepare the slides to be bilingual, even with working many hours over the weekend. I’m fortunate to be with a great group of students who are not only eager to learn but are gracious in coping with me speaking English.

I didn’t work every waking hour over the weekend, as Sunday included church and dinner with our first-month’s host family.

They had friends from New Zealand over, and we had wonderful conversations. The two PhD-holding medical researchers work for a governmental organization that studies adverse drug reactions. Fascinating stuff and quirky humor! Another researcher is an expert in toxins in food. It is great to converse with people who are perpetually inquisitive about everything and very informed for conversation with a couple of us biblical theologians. And is it always refreshing to have several hours to communicate in English! Whew!

After lunch today, I joined my conversations partners to practice Swedish. I was really tired, but I was able to make the most of it. I have difficulty asking questions. The word order changes, but I’m also learning that we ask many question with “do” in them. How do I do this? What do I do with this? Do I need this? Can it be done? When is it done? Do you know if its done? However, I believe that “do” really doesn’t show up in Swedish questions. No wonder I’ve been confused with the do/make verb. I can not just translate my English questions into Swedish. So now, how do I do this?

On a positive note, Anya did the laundry today!

With blessings,

Beth

So, the commas in the title are important, though the concept of “Swedish prophets partying” seems quite intriguing. What would that party look like!?!

Swedish:

I survived another Swedish class at the university on Friday morning. I managed to have some conversation partner time with the Canadian woman. She is much more my speed than the trying to converse with the guy who is fluent in Norwegian. When we were in groups of two, I got the Canadian; when in groups of three, I was with the Norwegian speaker and an Indian. (I do love the multi-cultural dynamics!) I was a bit encouraged to hear that the Canadian has been here for 5 years, while I have been her almost 4 months. However, she works in the world of English, while I work in the world of Swedish. She has no professional need to learn Swedish. I do.

We worked on perfect participles.

 

Prophets:

I’m working to get a lesson on Isaiah prepared for class on Monday. I get 90 minutes for 1 book! That is much better than 90 minutes for the Pentateuch, but it is one of the most quoted books in the New Testament, so there is much to discuss. Again, I want to engage the students in some textual analysis or other hands-on learning.

Party:

Anya and I were invited to a birthday party. Then, Anya was invited to bring a friend and work at it, keeping all the drinks stocked, coffee made, cakes supplied, and keep cups and things supplied. It was a packed house with a great spirit of celebrating life and friendship. I’m now getting to know friends of friends from previous gatherings.

I have found a friend in Steffi, a German woman who teaches engineering at the university. We also see each other at church. Tonight, we continued our conversation on pedagogy. She just was honored with the teaching award for the science and engineering division, and we both are committed to active learning and innovative pedagogy. She is also helping me understand the Swedish regulations in higher ed. Tonight, I learned that every exam has to be offered 3 times. That means that if a person misses or does not do well on an exam, they can take it later. It also means that if a student didn’t take the exam in a previous year (or even several years ago), they can find out when the exam is offered and take it again to finish the course! It sounds like this is going to be an administrative nightmare for me as a teacher. It also seems like this practice is going to deter innovative pedagogy with other means of assessment. I wonder if I could just not offer exams and just have a series of papers and projects!?! Fortunately, Steffi is helping me understand the boundaries of Swedish regulations. Then I can explore how to be creative within the box in a way that doesn’t make it a total administrative nightmare.

A couple more notes:

Sunrise:

The sun rises at 9:09 am, but because it is so low on the horizon, it rises so slowly. It is a long sunrise, as well as a long sunset. The contrast with Tanzania, which is on the equator, it dramatic. In Tanzania the sun shoots up straight with 12 hours of sunshine year round.

Editing opportunity:

The adviser for my PhD journey continues to exceed my expectations. I came home to an email from him. I have an invitation to be a co-editor for a project on a book with a collection of essays on classical religious texts in global contexts. Wow! He continues to open doors for his former students. I know that another one of his students just received a teaching position, where I think he was a bit of an advocate.

So, despite the challenges of feeling like a first-year again–because of a new context, different delivery, and some new content–I see God’s hand of providence.

With blessings,

Beth