Month: October 2018

Today, Sunday, seems really long. Perhaps it is because it is daylight savings in Sweden. So, with a “fall back” there is an extra hour, which really became an extra hour of sleep. If I was sleeping why does this day seem so long? Oh, perhaps the sunset just after 4:00 makes for a long evening.

I worked almost all of yesterday, as I have a new course prep for a hermeneutics course. So, there is lots of reading and laying out a strategy to put the reading into themes. I’m eager for the course, as I’m fascinated by the content and there are 4 good students in this first graduate-level course I’m teaching. However, I’m also humbled with tackling this course with some of the most challenging concepts, including:

• What is hermeneutics? (My beginning definition is the philosophy of interpretation with analysis of the various agendas and meta-critique of the discipline of Biblical studies, but then there’s more.)
• What is truth? (Engaging the philosophical and theological theories–including correspondence versus coherence theories.)
• Where is the source of meaning in the text? (Author, text, reader or a combination?)

There is a 5th student who was enrolled, but I discovered that he doesn’t meet the prerequisite for the course–completing a bachelor’s thesis (with at least a mark of 55%, which seems low to me). However, I saw that he has 13 courses unfinished (yes, we don’t give failing grades, as students can come and finish later). While perhaps half of these are pastoral training courses (non-academic in the Swedish system), there is over 1 full year of work that is unfinished in only a 3-year bachelor’s program! So, with the rektor, I’m saying that he needs to finish some of his undergraduate courses before he continues with more graduate courses! Yes, I’m stymied that there is no computerized check on the prerequisites.

Last week was a good week with the student presentations at the end of Intro to the Old Testament. One student even gave me flowers the next day!

On Thursday, I went with one student to her doctor’s appointment. She has some congenital issues that need care. She has been a Swedish conversation partner, so I know that she gets stressed about seeing new doctors. When I heard of her rising stress for an upcoming appointment that was scheduled for a morning without obligations for me, I offered to go with her.

While I was a companion on the journey, I am far from the ideal companion. I’m not a health professional who could help with understanding–even if I could understand the Swedish. I really don’t understand medical and anatomical Swedish, so I couldn’t take notes for her to reflect on later. But she had someone along who cared, and my offer to go reduced 2 weeks of anticipatory stress for her.

Because I put in a long day yesterday, I am taking a good Sabbath today. Sleeping in (thanks to the daylight savings time change), morning worship (though I didn’t track the preacher’s Swedish well), a bit of exercise at the gym, and some brain candy on YouTube. So, lately, my video watching has been a Japanese master furniture maker. The episodes are about 13 minutes and go from raw wood to beautiful furniture.

Here’s a link to making a kigumi table.

I know that it provides a kind of life balance for me to do my own creative work. I’ve collected the supplies for some “linoleum” cutting. I listen to lectures on YouTube (where I don’t have to watch anything) and carve my block of rubber. I did some printing tonight of a mono-chrome design I worked up this weekend. My one Hebrew-reading reader on this blog might be able to make out the message which is translated, “His steadfast love endures forever,” (appearing twice). Thus, the representation of an infinity symbol with the eye of God radiating glory. This is the Hebrew refrain that appears 26 times in Psalm 136.  The Hebrew word חֶ֫סֶד (ḥesed) is my favorite Hebrew word overflowing with meaning of God’s covenantal love and inherently connected with God’s unfailing promises.

Last spring, I worked on a two-block print, but I hadn’t printed it until tonight. I tried to have the blue with some gradation from lighter to darker–using all the ink colors I bought in Stockholm. Getting the registration to be reasonable is a bit of a challenge with only placement by hand. This one was the best one.

Time for more brain candy before bed, and if I can muster some will power, work through a bit of Swedish. (I discovered that in the English-Swedish/Swedish-English dictionary there are 19 pages (!!!) of words that begin with the prefix för-! Ugh! It is hard to keep similar words straight in my little head.

With blessings,

Beth

The first transition is heavy. My sister-in-law informed me that her lymphoma has returned. If you have a prayer list, please put Barbara on it.

The other transition is the end of the first block of the fall semester (each semester is divide into two blocks). The last day of my class, Intro to the Old Testament, includes 6 minute presentations. It starts with reading the summary statement that was developed through 9 classic biblical interpretation steps. Now, they can engage it creatively. Here are a few highlights.

One student is a professional ballet dancer (who met his wife in my first class 2.25 years ago). He shared his choreographed a dance (uploaded to YouTube) for his  text, Deut. 6:4-9, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” He relayed that his text is about worship of God, and dance is a way for him to joyfully worship God, and clearly, he engages his strength.

Another student captured the imagination of the students by not only sharing his Lego diorama of the Song of Moses (Exodus 15) after crossing the Reed Sea, he then retold the story through classic Swedish children’s animated characters of “Bamse.” The Song of Moses was adapted to be sung with the Bamse theme song. It was winsome!

Another transition, was the retirement of Loe (a nickname from his initials),  my predecessor, who taught OT for 40 years here. His retirement was honored with a seminar and the publication of the papers in a book. I had one chapter in it. The book release party was yesterday.

A small transition is that one of my favorite candies, ginger lime flavored Läkerol, is one of the many items that Anya and I have liked in our little grocery store, and then they stop carrying it. (Ugh!) But I found some today at a store in the mall. I bought 8 of them! (I had to go to the bank to wire money for Anya’s tuition. Curiously, my first payment deadline comes 6 weeks after Anya started school!)

So, a nice little something to chew on as I write this.

With blessings,

Beth

Here’s the latest from the crazy American in Sweden.

For the Bible school (no required reading, papers, or exams–so kind of like Bible camp on steroids for a “gap year”), small groups developed creative presentations of some of the major judges. We had some fun creativity and memorable ways to remember some biblical characters.

The last lesson in my “academic” class (Introduction to the OT, but now only the first half of the OT, and the 2nd half comes in a “deeping” course) was on Ester, so we had a competitive story-telling time, with groups each taking a chapter. This is an adaptation of the Jewish tradition of reenacting the story for the festival of Purim. The student who won (a bag a chocolates on the festival theme) was an older student who retold the story and invited the students to be children. Some got a bit childish, playing kids who asked a ton of questions, some of which were totally tangential. Perhaps they felt sorry for how some students made her really work in telling the story. As a good teacher, she shared her chocolates. (I buy individually wrapped chocolates, so in case the winner(s) feel like sharing, it is easy to do so.)

We celebrated with chocolate cake as well, which was shared with all who were around for the fika break. In Swedish, this is “fester för Ester!”

The final day is tomorrow, but before the exam after lunch, we start with a “Gallery Day” in the morning. Students will have 6 minutes, starting with reading their main point from step 9 of their inductive exegetical methods project, where they have worked all term with a classic interpretive methods. Next, they share a creative interpretation with the entire class. The desks are moved to the side of the classroom, and chairs are set up in theater style to make it a bit more special. The students will do the grading, as they can track all the Swedish well. It is only 10% of the grade and anything 80% or higher is a high pass, so there is a bit of incentive to engage this, but not too many points that will make students too stressed. I invite others from the school to come, and have guest seating in the back, so they can slip in and out as they want.

These creative aspects seem to be appreciated by many, and especially the few that feel that creativity has been sacrificed on the altar of “scientific” biblical study. Yes, all my classroom discussion is required by law to be “scientific” (regardless that objective or neutral interpretation has been demonstrated to be a myth). But the other thing this crazy American does is play by the rules, but also note when the rules don’t apply. Specifically, Swedish higher ed does not require a standard number of classroom contact hours with students. So, I can get through my course content in non-confessional ways, and then end class early (averaging 15 minutes early, with a couple that were 30 minutes). I invite students to stay for “reflection” which integrates lesson content with conversations that engage faith, ministry, and other aspects of Christian life. Most students stay.

On Friday night, I was invited to a dinning club, where people take turns hosting a meal. (I’m a bit concerned that nobody knows how rustic my student apartment is. Will they really want to have me host!?!) I do a lot of listening in Swedish, and I did a little bit of talking in Swedish, but when I was tired at the end of the day, I did relay–in English–my crazy American way to play by the rules in the classroom, but give an opportunity beyond the rules. Several were really pleased to hear what I was doing, as they too share the frustration of training pastors and pastoral counselors without holistic conversations during the lessons.

Other crazy American notes…

I decided to wear a pair of Anya’s shoes that she left in her closet. We had some nice weather last week. Now, it turned cold again, so the shoes are back in her closet.

I do laundry in the first available slot of the day, 7:00 am. Then, there is no back up in the laundry room. Somehow this last time, one of the dryers offered an English instruction panel! I can manage this Swedish, but some crazy American allowed the English selection to come to completion. Though, somehow it resets to default Swedish after some minutes.

I continue to be grateful for my Swedish tutor, Lennart. I bicycle past a konditori (a coffee shop and bakery that specializes in fika pastries), and I buy 2 items. I have been exploring the options over the months. This one pictured, looks better than it tastes! It is a blob of icing on a cookie with a nice presentation. This one won’t be chosen again.

We made Christmas/New Year airplane reservations. So, 22 – 26 December in the Bay Area; 26 December – 2 January in Bellevue area. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible!

Speaking of crazy, the British Airlines airplane ticket from Arlanda/Stockholm through London to San Francisco was $261 cheaper than only the 1 (same) flight from London to San Francisco! So, Anya will fly here, which she wanted to do anyway, with a commuter flight, which when combined with the other flight, it will still be cheaper than just the round-trip London to USA. At least I’m not the only crazy thing in my life.

With blessings,

Beth

Ok, any currency gurus out there?

I need to make a payment for the first part of Anya’s year at King’s. It is several thousand dollars, so I want to get the best exchange rate.

I also want to use the strongest currency: US Dollars (USD) or Swedish Kroner (SEK, literally crowns) to pay in British Pound Sterling (GBP). More on this below.

There are 3 ways to pay.

1. Credit/Debit Card – payments can be made over the Internet on the KCL Finance web page www.kcl.ac.uk/feepay Instructions on how to use this facility are also available on this web page.

   Beth’s notes: I have a debit card with 0% international exchange rate for US dollars. I will have to transfer funds to this account. Hmm. I wonder if I have a limit for purchases, and this is a little more than usual.

   The exchange rate can be set by their merchant service provider or my card issuer. Which is better? How do I find out the rate of exchange that my card issuer uses!?!

2. From a Non-UK Bank – KCL has partnered with Western Union Global Business Solutions to provide students with the ability to
   make secure international payments for their tuition and/or accommodation fees. The service is tailored for students to obtain a quote online, containing the details of a local bank account to make the payment to and importantly an amount in your local currency, at an exchange rate valid for 72 hours, to be  transferred. The quote must then be provided to your own bank for payment to be initiated. For more information about the
   process and the advantages and to obtain a non-obligatory quote please visit www.kcl.ac.uk/banktransfer.

   Beth’s note: I know that I can make a bank wire transfer for about $15. But I don’t know the exchange rate until I show up to my Swedish bank.

   Perhaps I need to get this 72-hour valid exchange rate and then compare with what my Swedish bank offers. Then simply go with the best option.

   The Western Union payment information on their website states:

   How do I complete my bank transfer?

   You will receive payment instructions at the end of the online process. You can take these to your bank in person, call your bank, or complete your transfer using online banking, depending on your institution’s capabilities.

   Back to Beth: But how do I know if my USA bank (BECU Credit Union) has this capability? Without being able to drop by or make a call, perhaps I need to online message them and see what they say.

3. By Cheque/Bankers Draft made payable to King’s College London and forwarded to credit control office.

   Beth’s note: Any trackable mail will probably cost more than my wire transfer fee, not including any fee for cutting the check. I’m not even sure if this is a function at my Swedish bank. I have never seen a check in my 2-years of being in Sweden!

Then, which currency do I pay in?

Here’s the rates:

• SEK to GBP
• USD to GBP

It seems that the dollar is stronger now compared to GBP, and the SEK is weaker than GBP. So, I should use dollars–if I’m reading this right.

I have until the end of the month for the payment. So, I’ll figure this out, but if you have any wisdom to share, feel free to email me!

Curiously, I have not had any payment for tuition yet, and Anya will be in class for 6 weeks before the first payment is due!

With blessings,

Beth

One of the little benefits through my employer is the ability to take about $93 from my paycheck (11 months out of 12) which goes pre-tax on a debit card that can be used at most grocery stores and quite a few restaurants. I still pay 12% tax on food, but because my income tax rate is 31%, that saves me 19% of tax. (At least, that’s how I think it works.) The tax rate on everything else–including rent and utilities–is 25%. So, it is estimated that most people pay around 53% tax. Most Swedes don’t have a problem with paying high taxes, because they see the benefits with free education with free hot lunch, free college/grad school up to 6 years post-highschool, medical care, elder care, in addition to police, fire, roads, and more. They believe this is an investment in a civil society.

The little change here is that my primary grocery store, an ICA brand that is close to my work, has stopped taking this debit card. They have a bit of a fee to accept the card program, and the franchise owner of this grocery store chain has decided that the benefits are not worth it. Ugh!

So, there is a new ICA grocery store not too far away, and they take the debit card. I do have to cross a busy road at rush hour. Because it is under construction, the pedestrian crosswalks are not well marked. However, the new ICA is smaller, and it doesn’t carry some of my favorite items–even a ICA store brand breakfast cereal! So, I guess it is still some grocery shopping without the benefit of the tax-free debit card.

I’m now on the board of my union at work. It is a small “club” but important to provide a check and balance. This is quite gracious, as we have a high regard for our new boss.

Recently, I pondered in my blog whether I should wash a few dishes more often or let them accumulate for a few days—enough to make it reasonable to fill a wash basin with soapy water. Tonight, I washed my accumulation of dishes, and I realized that I should wash dishes more often. This is not because the pile was unwieldy, but because when I wash dishes, this reminds me to pray for missionary friends. The more I wash dishes, the more I pray for them.

I washed dishes tonight because tomorrow a colleague will spend the night. She lives in Stockholm, so her commute is a bit over an hour one way. There is a weekend young adult conference that she is part of, so it makes sense to stay with me rather than travel so long for a short night’s sleep to turn around the next morning. So, dishes are done, and I picked up a few things.

With blessings,

Beth

I don’t post as much as I used to, but I still think as much as I used to. When I post, it is a good sign. When I don’t post, I am either a bit busy or a bit disconnected (and then there was the major kerfuffle last spring that threw me for a loop and let me not knowing what to say). If you happen to be one who comes and checks out the blog on occasion to see if I’ve posted anything but don’t see anything new, I’m sorry.

I’ve been adjusting to a quiet home without Anya. I’m trying to decide if I should do the minimal dishes each day or wait until there is a reasonable amount to fill a wash tub with soapy water. I usually stream the PBS News Hour when washing dishes, so there it is good to have more than a handful of items then.

I taught all morning, but there is no heat at JTH. The technicians are called, but they aren’t available until next week. One colleague’s office is a frigid 13 degrees centigrade or about 55 degrees Fahrenheit. My office is 17 degrees centigrade, so warmer at 63 degrees. However, it is still too cold to work comfortably. So, I came home for lunch and worked from home. (I was warned that my former colleague who caused the kerfuffle was on campus by the door I exit, so I went out through another door. It is nice to have a sensitive colleague give me a heads up.)

I almost finished grading the exams from last Thursday. I only have six, 1-page essay questions left. Unfortunately, I gave two options, and this one that 6 students chose seemed to elicit student responses that uses vocabulary that I’m less familiar with. I plan to take them to my Swedish tutor on Friday to work through with him.

I don’t know of any teacher who likes grading papers, but it is even a greater challenge for me to muddle through in Swedish.

I’ve been pondering about my life as a pilgrim. In an email to a friend that I hadn’t emailed for quite a long time, was responding to her question of how life is for me here. My response included that I was encouraged seeing Anya getting in her groove in London. I continued (with a few edits):

– + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

I’m adjusting to being an alone empty-nester in another country where I have shallow roots, and I don’t speak the language fluently. These past 2 years, I’ve become a pilgrim with a palpable awareness of journeying through places that are not home. Yet, I can make a sense of home on a path that keeps me dependent upon Jesus.

I am repeatedly affirmed that I am valued here and have a strategic role. There are some meaningful connections and good opportunities for me.

I will be going to Ethiopia in January to teach a 2-week intensive at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology, pending the final scheduling. I will be in an English-speaking academic context there. The Ethiopian Lutheran church is now the largest Lutheran church body in the world, and still growing. Ethiopia was an interesting first visit 1.5 years ago, and this will be a good opportunity to connect again.