Tomorrow morning, I take off very early in the morning to fly to the USA, Minnesota to be more specific. I’ll end up in Duluth to help my dad pack up and move to live with my sister in Michigan.
From July 7-13, I’ll be teaching the Bible studies at Mount Carmel family camp in Alexandria, Minn. The theme is the Mission of God in the Old Testament.
Anya’s good friend, Annaliese, arrived yesterday. They explored Uppsala in the afternoon and early evening. Today, they are exploring Stockholm. Soon, they take off Eurailing through Copenhagen, Denmark; Frankfurt, Germany; Zurich, Switzerland; Paris, France; and Barcelona, Spain. They will be staying with Annaliese’s aunt and uncle in Zurich and family friends in Paris. They have reservations on trains, hostels, and one Air BnB, which have all be confirmed recently. Still, I welcome your prayers. Please pray that they will be safe, healthy, and enjoy their trip. Pray that my mother’s heart will be at peace. The late Erma Bombeck wrote, “Motherhood is a life sentence of worry.” But I remind myself what my former pastor, John, said, “Worry is prayer to the wrong god.”
It was an exciting game to watch. We were hosted by our German friends, so I said that I would cheer for whoever feeds me. Though my nature is to cheer for the underdog, which was Sweden. It was an exciting game, watched by 3 Germans, 3 Americans, 1 Afghani, and 1 Swede. We are grateful for friends who share life–and food–with us. Though Anya made chocolate chip cookies, which we brought with the ice cream. A good night was had by all, even for those who were cheering for Sweden.
With the wonderful fullness of hosting friends and then catching up after they departed, I’m now getting around to posting about Anya’s graduation, called a “studenten.” (I also had a seminar in Norway to prepare for and travel to, so things were a bit busy.)
We were so glad to have dear friends, Jean and Marvin, and my former housemate, Janet, come to make the celebration special for Anya.
There is no formal graduation ceremony for family and friends in Sweden. The students have a gathering with speeches and some end-of-the-year traditions. Each one was given an “award.” Some were not really positive, so Anya felt that being awarded class perfectionist was actually one of the better ones! She was one of the ones who actually read all the instructions and guidelines for the International Baccalaureate assessments!
A wonderful day!
At 1:00, the family and friends gathered outside the front doorway of the school. (The Kathedral School was founded in 1246!) There is typically a sea of people, so parents make signs so that their son or daughter can find them. The tradition is that the sign is a baby picture!
Anya found us! The American flag may have helped a bit, but the text to her cell phone with a description of our location was probably best!Baby picture posters are part of the tradition.
The baby picture tradition seems a bit weird to me, when this is a rite of passage into adulthood. I followed suit, but then, I put my American spin on it.
All of her school pictures!
In addition to the flags, there were battery-powered lights! The back side of the poster was the collection of all her school photos to show that she’s come a long way!
Our friends, Donna and Lennart, joined us for fika to watch some of the excitement in the city center.
Wonderful Swedish fika with wonderful friends!
One tradition–that Anya did not choose to do–is for students to ride around the town in the back of a hastily-decorated truck with music blaring.
Anya’s International Baccalaureate class greeted her when they passed by.
We went on to a nice celebration hosted by Donna and Lennart. Other friends joined us for real Mexican food that we had catered. We were so blessed by Donna and Lennart. They really rallied around us to make it a wonderful celebration.
Now, we wait for Anya’s final exam scores, which are posted on the Internet on 6 July. She will be traveling (Eurailing) in Europe then. Her dear friend, Annaliese, who comes on Sunday from the USA, also just graduated. They will be staying with some extended family and family friends in addition to a couple hostels and one Air BnB as they travel south from Sweden to Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, France, and Spain. Then, they fly back to Sweden. They have been planning for months, and the class perfectionist has carefully prepared spreadsheets and double checked all tickets and reservations. After seeing her navigate in London, figuring out public transportation in Norway, and thriving in Stockholm, I know they can make it work. Of course I’m consoled that she’s got a reasonable amount of wisdom and city smarts, but I eagerly welcome your prayers that everything goes smoothly and they stay healthy throughout their travels.
On 6 July, we’ll know where Anya will be headed to university in the fall. Her first choice is studying math with economics at the London School of Economics (LSE). Her acceptance is conditional upon earning the highest score, 7 out of 7, in math. While this is feasible, because several of the old exams she did scored sevens, however, it is not a guarantee. If she earned a 6 out of 7, then she will go to Kings College London. Both are great programs, so King’s isn’t a disappointment. The only glitch with Kings is that an applicant is only allowed to reserve student housing at their first choice. So, there is housing for her at LSE, but nothing reserved at Kings. This means if she is going to Kings, we have to scramble for housing in London in mid-July for a mid-September start. And Anya will have to lead this effort from some guest room in the Paris area. Yes, again prayers are welcomed.
Thanks for sharing in a bit of my joy of Anya’s wonderful achievement after these especially challenging two years of diligent study.
I will follow up with Anya’s graduation from high school, but things have been busy hosting friends from the USA through Monday, then 2 days of faculty meetings (in Swedish), and then off to Norway, where all the Norwegians in 2 days of seminars and gatherings spoke English for me, the only non-Norwegian speaker. No wonder I enjoy time in Norway, where I live in English-speaking contexts.
The seminar is an internal peer-review process for a book project that I am co-editing on “Classic Religious Texts in Global Contexts.” With topics beyond biblical studies, I get to learn new things from colleagues. As a co-editor, I had to read all the chapters prior to the seminar as part of the peer-review process. An external reviewer will be secured by the publisher for another round of constructive criticism.
When I learned a couple months ago that I would be coming to Stavanger, I arranged this Saturday to hike with my former PhD student colleague, Tina. We were both supervised by Knut. She was the brilliant one, and I got through by being diligent. We both love to hike. She calls it hill walking, but 323 meters is more than a hill. My left knee agrees that it is more than a hill, as ibuprofen helps to calm its complaints of the day’s hiking.
A few days ago, the forecast predicted a lot of rain. As today got closer, the rain became delayed until this evening, and the sun icons started to appear on the weather app. It was a beautiful day for hiking! There was some beautiful blue sky with light clouds in the morning. The clouds started increasing, but still no rain.
The view from the top of Dalsnuten by Sandness, Norway, at 323 meters.Proof that we made it to the top!
For most of the day, Anya was with her friend from the school she attended when we lived here for 6 months in 2015. I failed in passing on a love for hiking to Anya. But, it was a nice day to spend with this friend, who also came and visited us in the USA.
Tomorrow, I preach at the international church here, have lunch with some wonderful friends, and then we head back to the airport to head home to Sweden.
This time in Norway has been “dawa kwa moyo,” a Kiswahili saying for medicine for the heart (with a sense of the soul).
This evening, I was invited over for a little fika after dinner. One of my students is prayerfully discerning continuing his studies at Fuller Seminary. I believe Fuller would be a great option for him. This evening was an opportunity for me to sit down with him and his wife to talk over some questions related to studying in the USA and moving with their family to the USA for a couple years.
On my bicycle ride home, this was my view.
A big sun with the ever-present cathedral spires on the horizon
It was perfect weather—in addition to this beautiful glimpse—for the ride home.
The last Hebrew lesson this morning will be followed with the final exam on Thursday. The students have developed a refrain which they said was taken from the Hebrew course at Uppsala University: “Embrace the chaos.” I encourage them to have reasonable first-year Hebrew expectations, and focus on our goal of understanding the text. Now, we have a good grammatical foundation to build upon—and some software when we get stuck. So, we are now one-year farther along on a life-long journey of discovery. Here’s where the students can quote me, as they do sometimes, “Whoo hoo!” Hebrew lunches are already planned for Fridays in the fall to keep the Hebrew and discovery going. “Whoo hoo!”
I’m back to blogging after being away a couple months. The reason for not blogging these months is long and complicated, and to take the higher moral ground, I’m not going to go into details. Part of the delay in blogging was not knowing what to say or how to say it. Part of the delay was that the wind got knocked out of my sails, and I was in a funk for over a month. Some of the wind has returned to my sails, but I know I’m not fully back to my A-game yet. (Sorry for the mixed metaphor.)
So what happened? My oblique description is that I was seriously misrepresented to others (who aren’t my colleagues), and I was accused of threatening to go to the press with an issue. I had not even discussed the issue with the union, but fortunately, when a colleague invited me to share the issue with the union, there was overwhelming support for me. There’s lots of back story that happened way before I arrived in Sweden, but my arrival happened to correlate with some stuff. And I was blamed for it due to one person’s perception, and it threatened my continued work here. It was very messy.
The results are that there has been wonderful concern and unanimous support by colleagues and the union. There have been intentional efforts to restore my reputation by correcting the misinformation. And most importantly, the source of this catastrophe is leaving. So, while there still are injustices left unattended, I’m trying to move forward.
Obviously, I won’t cover 2 months of life in much detail, so let me start with today’s events and over the next weeks, I’ll reflect on some highlights.
Today, Anya and I celebrated the completion of her three weeks of International Baccalaureate exams, which ended this week, by going to a renown and funky vintage store. It took about an hour with 2 bus rides and then a half-hour walk out in the middle of rural farmland to a vintage store in an old barn (with very poor signage).
No sign here, but this is it.First floor–just a corner–on the second building.Second floorFull-on 60s and 70s!
Yes, Anya loves vintage fashion, especially the 60’s and some of the 70’s. She’s visited most of the vintage stores in Uppsala and Stockholm (and listens to a history of fashion blog), but this vintage store in the middle of nowhere has quite a well-regarded reputation for volume. And since they are only open in the summer (probably because the barn isn’t heated), things in the spring haven’t been picked over. (Though, I realize that my taste is quite different. Though I did see the jean jacket I wanted as a kid in the 70’s—just like my friend, Robin, had—but it was kid’s size.) Anya said this was one of the most amazing days of her life—at least in Sweden!
It was a lovely day to be on a journey and walking together on an old country road. The lilacs are in full bloom, and we followed the road through the middle of a farm (farm house on one side with the barn on the other side) which had a long row of lilac. The air was filled with lilac fragrance (my highlight of the day). Yes, I love lilac.
On our way back, we discovered that this country bus route only had buses coming by every 3 hours on a Saturday. Fortunately, we were right by a country church and could sit in the shade in the well-tended graveyard.
Anya has been waiting and waiting to hear from her first choice university, the London School of Economics (LSE). Yesterday, she heard; she has a conditional acceptance!!! She was jumping for joy around the apartment yesterday, almost in tears of joy!
The way things work in the EU with the International Baccalaureate program is that she will have to earn a certain number of points on her final exams in May. These scores must include two 6s and a 7 (the highest score) in math. She thinks that is possible. If not, she realized that the second tier options are very fine programs too. Right now, her second choice would be either Kings College in London or University of St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland, both of which require a 6 in math. St. Andrews is actually considered the 3rd strongest math program after Oxford and Cambridge, but not as many people want to go to a small city in Scotland. One of my favorite theologians is at St. Andrews, so I would like to go there, and I’m not a golfer (St. Andrews is claimed to be the original home of golf)! I also am not one who loves cities like Anya.
Today, Anya was reading more about LSE and their clubs: backgammon, badminton, fashion, Nordic (self-described as having the best parties with lots of alcohol), and the American club, which did not have a description. Hmm, perhaps too much to say, or not enough room to counteract all the stereotypes.
Also today, Anya found out that she has been accepted to the University of Washington in Seattle. However, because we are not residing in Washington state this year, she read that she would not qualify for in-state tuition for 1 year. I wonder, as I still own our home and am paying property tax. However, UW is Anya’s 6th choice currently, so I might not even try to figure this one out.
People around here are bemoaning the late spring. While the daylight is getting longer, it has been snowing a bit for most of the past 4 or 5 days.
My view on the way home from the gym and grocery store this morning
However, there are some signs of spring.
The pussy willows are out.
The construction continues at JTH. We have to be creative where we park our bikes. On Friday, I parked my bike in this area in the morning, but then the construction fence blocked the exit when I was headed out to my Swedish tutoring time, as seen here. I had to roll my bike through part of the building to get out another door.
Construction continues
One of the signs you are in Sweden is cheese, lots of cheese. Cheese and ryecrisp cracker-like bread (knäckebröd) is available at the morning fika for the staff. They like mild cheese and strong coffee. I rarely indulge in the snack, as it isn’t so enticing for me, and I don’t need the extra calories. I’ll save them for chocolate!
The fika supplies: lots of cheese
Off to practice more Swedish.
With blessings,
Beth
P.S. My blog’s app to notify people by email of new postings dropped all the email addresses. If you’d like to have me put you back in the notification system, send me an email.
I haven’t posted in a while. Partially, I’ve been busy. Partially, there hasn’t been much exciting to say. Partially, I’m tired.
In cross-cultural journeys, there is a common up and down reality. The ups are filled with the excitement of adventures. The downs are filled with the weariness of language learning and other cross-cultural issues, such as being tired of feeling like a fish out of water and dealing with the host countries ways of doing things.
Last week was filled with both ups and downs. I have been blessed with some intentional affirmations and invitations. Those are even more meaningful for me, as they take the sharp edge off the frustrations—especially of language learning. The nadir of every month is the faculty meeting. It is 3.25 hours of Swedish conversation that affects my life, and I continually struggle to understand what is going on. I can usually understand the topic and some of the details for most speakers. On occasion the vocabulary is new to me, so I cannot track well, and with one speaker who has a difficult dialect that is pronounced deep and throaty, it is almost impossible for me to understand anything. Native Swedish speakers even say it is hard to understand him. I asked for a draft of the minutes to read, before the official version comes out a month later.
On the long day with the faculty meeting, I started teaching at 8:30 am that went until 12:15, including a break for a short chapel service and fika. The day’s topic was one I haven’t taught much, Isaiah, as I had a colleague in the the USA who taught the Prophets. It is always humbling teaching a huge topic and not feeling like an expert on all the different approaches and viewpoints, and Isaiah has very many approaches and viewpoints!
The long day continued into the evening with a skit night by the Bible school students. I stayed to support them, but I felt like a fish out of water in a Swedish cultural context coupled with a brain tired from so much Swedish. I left at 9:00 pm.
My week includes teaching biblical Hebrew to native Swedish speakers with an American English textbook with my English instruction. Fortunately for me, there is no good Hebrew grammar text for Swedish speakers (even Lund and Uppsala Universities use an American English Hebrew grammar), however, this is bad for the students. I am also not the Hebrew expert that my friend-colleagues are. So, I arranged a Skype session with a Swedish friend who is a Hebrew expert. Lena, who lives and teaches in the UK, was the person who introduced me to JTH, and she is an affiliated teacher at JTH. This is a role that is developing, where a scholar is brought to campus to present some of their research. So, Lena was glad to connect with my students via Skype.
Skyping with LenaHebrew students finally having instruction in Swedish
From 15 who started last fall, there are only 4 students left. This is because Hebrew is not required, but Greek is. Students need half a year (equivalent) of 2 courses in a biblical language and 2 courses of biblical language-based exegetical study in the biblical text. Currently, due to limited resources, this is offered in Greek only. So, Hebrew will always be a smaller group.
I’m also tired of the construction. First, the campus was remodeled to allow for the EFS administration to move into the campus. This was frustrating beyond the noise, but also with the lack of process and resulting limited space and resources. The library was reduced in size and resulted in too little study area.
Then the sewage backed up in the basement. While the month-long jack-hammering out the ruined cement is done, the noise is now outside, as a water barrier is put around the external basement walls.
Construction continuesA typical sceneMy office is on the second level above this.The view from my office.
I’m tired also of the “Beast from the East.” We’ve had colder than typical weather. Mid-week, it was -17 Celsius, or about 1 Fahrenheit. While I lived through winters in Minnesota, I had a car to get around. Here, I’m bundling up and biking around in this cold weather. It is hard to shift gears when my thumb is pulled inside my gloves to keep from freezing off.
Fortunately, we are now starting to have longer daylight, so I’m internalizing this metaphor for my tiredness; the sunlight does get stronger.
This isn’t common, but this past week included 2 presentations. I mentioned the Monday presentation previously and the link to the web page for the newspaper article coverage. The newspaper spread was posted on the JTH bulletin board. This presentation on The Psalms and Music was more informal, speaking to many involved in professional church music as choir directors and worship leaders, as well as many JTH students. I could be more conversational, and I even incorporated a joke spontaneously: What do you call a person who hangs out with musicians? A drummer! Yes, this is a self-deprecating joke, as I am a choir reject and a wonderfully mediocre drummer. It was a good match for the message!
A nice spread covering the Music and Theology conference at JTH
On Thursday, I was at Uppsala University presenting a paper in an Old Testament seminar. It was a privilege to be there as part of the largest Department of Theology in Sweden. The seminar was not too big, with 8 people in total, including 3 JTH students, but that makes it easier to have a more comfortable conversation. I presented this paper also at an OT seminary at Lund University last fall, where there was a smaller group, but one was a bit defensive in the discussion–including an eye roll! I was warned that Uppsala may be even less receptive. So, I was a bit concerned that I would get some significant push-back to my ethical call for “multi-epistemological exegesis” in order to have an broader conversation that integrates ways of knowing from the Majority World/Global South. I asked a few friends to pray. My prayer team was amazing! The response to my paper was rather engaging and stimulated a meaningful conversation. There were some questions that had a healthy skepticism, but it was represented in a way that implied, “Help me understand what you meant by …” or “How would you deal with …” rather than seeming to imply, (cue the eye roll) “This is not convincing at all!” I was pleased by the conversation to help me strengthen my understanding, and I was encouraged to have the support of the 3 JTH students.
I am proposing a version of this for the International Society of Biblical Literature conference in Helsinki 30 July to 3 Aug this summer. I will then stay in Helsinki another day for the Christians for Biblical Equality conference, where I have been asked to speak. Curiously, they have invited me to speak in the missions track instead of the exegetical/biblical interpretation track. I told them that I would be willing to fill gaps, so this must be a gap. However, I submitted my session description today. This session will be more fun to prepare with the inspiring stories of Tanzanian women, but I will also incorporate a bit of intercultural biblical interpretation that I prepared for my PhD defense lecture on the Book of Ruth.
Session title: “If you teach the mama, the whole family will learn.”
Description: Economically, teaching girls has the most significant impact of the development dollar, such as seen in education and health outcomes. Come and hear inspiring stories of “education for liberation” from my experiences as a missionary teacher among the Maasai in Tanzania, East Africa. Beyond economics and development, this session develops the title’s theme with a biblical application from the Book of Ruth, incorporating intercultural interpretation and illustrated by stories of Tanzania women.
(Perhaps I need to replace “dollar” to be cross-cultural!)
I start with last Saturday. Anya has enjoyed worshiping at the international church in Stockholm. They had an international potluck on Saturday evening, so we made a chocolate cake to represent the USA. We went a bit early to enjoy some of Stockholm, which included my first visit to the architecturally famous Stockholm City Library.
A large central rotunda is stunning.
At the library, you need to pay to use the bathroom. If you don’t have change, no problem; you can pay the 5 kroner ($.62) with a credit card.
Sweden is the most cashless society in the world, which means paying for bathrooms with plastic!
There is a lot of construction, which is a sign of a robust economy.
Six cranes in on direction
The international dinner was very good. We had some nice conversations, and I was introduced to a couple of the pastors there when they found out that I taught at Johannelund. There seemed to be a warm regard for Johannelund, though most are connected to the Stockholm School of Theology.
One of two tables for main dishes, plus more space for desserts.
The rest of the weekend (other than a Sunday worship and a bit of a shortened Sabbath) was spent in preparation for my speaking on Monday at a conference at Johannelund with a theme of Theology and Music. I spoke on the Psalms and Music. It seemed to engage good reflection. I even made it into the main Swedish Christian news paper. Here’s the link.
A screen shot of the web version with me among a few of the scrolling pictures.
Tomorrow, I present a paper at the Old Testament seminar at the University of Uppsala. I am challenging—hopefully graciously—the biblical scholars in Sweden to have a broader conversation and engage other epistemologies (ways of knowing), especially from the Majority World (beyond traditional Euro-North American perspectives). It is similar to what I presented at the University of Lund last September (with some defensiveness) and in Oslo last November (with good affirmation). I hear that Uppsala may be the least receptive audience as the bastion of “scientific” approaches to exegetical theology. I would appreciate your prayers.
Anya asked to make caramel rolls, so we baked together tonight with some very nice outcomes!
