A Black Tie Affair

Having lived in an international community for nearly ten years, I got used to the odd outfits and clashing colour combinations of others and also experimenting myself with various styles and clothing items.

I loved the opportunity and took advantage of it happily. One article which I adopted into my wardrobe was wearing a necktie. Not daily, certainly not, and not weekly, simply as my mood directed me.

This was a style, which I quite liked and recently felt the necktie mood settling in. I was expecting some strange reactions from colleagues when I wore a tie to work on Thursday and was not proven wrong. At the end of the day I had survived their comments and with the worst behind me felt I could freely don the necktie in the future without being the brunt of too many jokes.

Then came Friday.

I had been asked and happily agreed to be the liturgist for our Thanksgiving chapel service at the seminary. No, I didn't wear a tie.

It was a nice service with a good sermon. After it concluded, a number of my colleagues came to the front where I was sitting to, I had thought, thank me and the preacher for the service. Nope. Every single one of them - women and men - was wearing a tie. I hadn't even noticed whilst I was leading, but they had sat all together in the first row of people proudly displaying their attire. Somehow I had totally missed it.

It's probably a good thing I didn't notice - who knows how the Thanksgiving prayer would have ended!

When we cut down too many trees:

The House that Craig built

Out of the need for change, which I think is a common characteristic amongst our female population, yesterday evening I moved the furniture of my little apartment around.

However, I realised that prior to this point, I've not yet given my faithful readers the grand tour of my abode.

So below is a video of my home. Enjoy! (The furniture has now been relocated, but this is how it's been for the last 7 months)

Most of the furniture and wall decorations were purchased on Craigslist, for which I'm extremely thankful.

Hope it works and ... sorry, if you get a bit dizzy.
(and my phone started ringing, thus the quick ending)

Sauna uses #2

Entering the sauna today after another slowly progressing workout, I saw this:

I had assumed a previous sauna-sitter had inconsiderately left their rubbish, so I planned to throw it out when I left.

Mid-sauna session a lady opened the door, said 'hello' and proceeded to retrieve her coffee which she explained she had left in the sauna to keep it warm...

Solo Sauna-ing

Particularly now that the weather calls for extra layers, I've tremendously appreciated the sauna available in the women's locker room during my gym visits. Up until today, I was the only person whom I have seen use this 195 degree little room.

After a pitiful but fulfilling workout, I went to check the temperature in the sauna and surprisingly there was someone sitting in there. I was amazed - not so much that someone was there, but more what she was wearing.

I had been introduced to the art of sauna-ing whilst in Prague and this art was enhanced during a trip to Estonia, where I learned how to sauna with the experts. (No, it's not a verb, but I like it.)

The steps to a proper sauna experience are simple: first, you sweat until you think you may die and second, you jump into a freezing cold river nearby and if you haven't had a heart attack, you repeat the process.

Just as the steps to sauna-ing is simple, so is the wardrobe: as little as possible. This surely varies depending on culture and context and comfort. I'll not tell you how you should or shouldn't dress, but I will tell you that I think the woman in the sauna this evening was a bit over dressed:

Okay, so she wasn't actually wearing a snowsuit, but she was very close. Sweatpants, hooded sweatshirt over her t-shirt, socks and shoes... It simply left me in a quandary.

By the time I was ready to join my overly-clothed gym partner in the sauna, she had left. I was quite glad for that fact because I wasn't sure how to greet her or what to say (as an American I am obliged to engage in nonsensical small talk with perfect strangers) whilst we both sweated in the tiny room. Her absence also allowed me to dress as I pleased for a fulfilling sauna conclusion to a very busy but productive day.

Ah, this country of mine. Such a place.

"Ya done good, Vee"

This is a post I drafted in late August at the end of our Orientation/Intensives weeks, but never published - not quite sure why.

The evening before I was in tears of frustration that with all my multi-tasking abilities, the tasks still exponentially multiplied and the work-day seemed to come to end more speedily each day.

My 'to-do' list grew just as quickly as my 'have-done' list. Deadlines I had set for myself and those given to me were menacingly near and I was sure that all the balls in the air would drop heavily next to me (or on me!) very soon.

I was waking up earlier, getting to work before the sun rose and attempting to sort through e-mails and organise tasks before colleagues and students appeared.

The dense feeling of being in over my head clouded my days. Though I faced each student and colleague with a smile and a 'can-do' attitude, I doubted my 'can-do-itness" and not sure how genuine my smile was.

Then at the end of two very tiring orientation weeks and at the beginning of an ominously new and uncharted semester, my boss succinctly and randomly said to me: "Ya done good, Vee".

He surely has no idea the weight that this simple colloquial phrase carried, but exactly at that moment it had the power to spur me to keep on keeping on, as they say. That despite my uncertainty and insecurity, despite my forgetting where rooms are located and who's responsible for what - I was doing alright.

I post this now to remind myself the power of a few encouraging words. I'm no longer the 'newbie' at Calvin as since April others have been hired on in varying positions. I remember how strengthening it was to hear kinds words from colleagues applauding my hard efforts or appreciating my spirit of teamwork. Now it's my turn to value and appreciate the gifts in my new colleagues whom I truly do value and appreciate. But do they know this?

New Beginnings Together

I was delighted to be asked to participate in the opening chapel service for Calvin Seminary this autumn. Worshiping as a community has become very meaningful to me and I appreciated very much the opportunity to draw people's thoughts together in prayer for the coming year.

I hadn't realised this had been printed until a colleague said she should ask for my autograph and I hadn't a clue why! If you are interested you can find this and other CTS FORUM journals on the Calvin Seminary website.

ps - click on the image to enlarge it...