I'm currently in a sea of work. Last week I turned in two papers. This upcoming week, I have one paper, one paper abstract and bibliography, and one midterm. After that, it should settle down until the end of the semester, when it gets even worse.
Tomorrow I get the exciting job of going to see the philosophy librarian. I've never been to see the man in over three years as a philosophy major. Shocking, I know. But now I am making up for this lack by asking him to help me find good secondary sources for my paper in my graduate class.
Somehow I find myself doing schoolwork during nearly all daylight hours. This week, I am going to track what I do when so that I can have an accurate picture of what I spend my time on. I suspect the answer is a little too much SVU. I shall report back (since I'm sure my non-existent readers are all dying to know).
In terms of current events, no comment! It all seems so stupid in every direction and quite frankly I have a hard time caring.
Hopefully I will have a more organized and/or beautiful post up soon. I do have some pictures I could post, once I can get them edited and cropped and such.
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Friday, June 7, 2013
Orthodoxy and heterodoxy: 7 quick takes, vol 8
1. For some reason, questions about heresy keep popping up all over the place recently. And they all seem to lead me to the same thoughts.
2. It all started with reading the book, The Name of the Rose, which a good friend recommended and lent to me. The book is set during the Franciscan controversy, about whether Jesus had things, and whether Christians should have things, or whether they were required to live in poverty, and what that all meant anyway. One of the characters in the book made the point that the majority of people who get caught up in heretical movements are not trying to be heretics. An inspiring preacher comes along who talks about dedicating your life to Christ, so you follow him. And then it turns out his theology is all flawed and so he and you are both heretics, but you are just a medieval farmer, so you had no idea about theology anyway! You're a Cathar, because that's who came by, not because you're actually deeply committed to Catharism. I thought this idea was super interesting, and probably true.
3. Then, in my Medieval Mindset class, we talked about the same time period. My teacher advanced the theory that St. Francis was canonized so quickly because the Pope was worried that people would follow St. Francis rather than him, and so he canonized him to tie the St. Francis followers into the Roman Catholic Church. Now, to me, this sounds a little crazy, especially if you think that canonizations are divinely inspired. But what was very interesting was how much some heresies overlap with other, orthodox, traditions. The line between heresy and orthodoxy is so very thin in some places!
4. In my theater class, we discussed and saw the play Daniel Stein. It's based on a book which was originally in Russian, which is loosely based on a real person. Anyway, the story is of a Jewish man who works as a translator for the Gestapo in WWII. After he uses his inside knowledge to help a Jewish ghetto, he has to flee. He hides with Catholic nuns, becomes Catholic, and then a Catholic priest. He goes to Israel to try to found a community like the original church in the first century, before Judaism and Catholicism became so different from each other. However, he gets into all sorts of trouble with the church, because part of what he does is reject Church doctrines (like the Trinity) that were solidified in later centuries. These conflicts never get really straightened out because Daniel dies in a car accident. Nevertheless, it's interesting to me that what got Daniel into trouble was not so much his beliefs as his lack of beliefs.
5. A side note to a paper I am writing is the heresy of Joachim von Fiore. He wrote a book attacking Peter Lombard and his doctrine of the Trinity. Then he sent his book to the pope, to get an opinion on the orthodoxy of his opinions so he could know if they were in line with Church teaching. And, too bad for him, the Fourth Lateran Council condemned him and his book, and said that Peter Lombard was correct. It did praise Peter Lombard, though, for checking.
6. Yesterday, a friend of mine and I were discussing religion and the Church. (This is the same friend who recommended The Name of the Rose. He and Kevin and I have some awesome deep discussions. He also might be reading this, so hi!) Anyway, he started to ask a question, prefacing it with the two caveats that one, he hoped this wasn't offensive and he didn't mean it offensively, and two, he knew it might be hard for me to answer this question objectively, so I was prepared for some tricky theology question or something. But the question was, aren't there some popes and bishops throughout history who have done some really evil things? To which, of course, the answer is yes by any moral standard. My father likes to say that given the people who have led the Church in the past, the fact that she still exists is a testament to her divine guidance!
7. But what it all comes down to, I think, is authority. Does the Church have authority, or not? If the Church has authority and is inspired by the Holy Spirit, then you follow her. If not, you don't. The line between orthodoxy and heterodoxy is fine, but the line is there. To a regular person, it's so hard to sort out. For God, it's easy. I would hate to be a Protestant and have to figure everything out by myself. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have the Church to guide me in my theology, especially in my metaphysics.
2. It all started with reading the book, The Name of the Rose, which a good friend recommended and lent to me. The book is set during the Franciscan controversy, about whether Jesus had things, and whether Christians should have things, or whether they were required to live in poverty, and what that all meant anyway. One of the characters in the book made the point that the majority of people who get caught up in heretical movements are not trying to be heretics. An inspiring preacher comes along who talks about dedicating your life to Christ, so you follow him. And then it turns out his theology is all flawed and so he and you are both heretics, but you are just a medieval farmer, so you had no idea about theology anyway! You're a Cathar, because that's who came by, not because you're actually deeply committed to Catharism. I thought this idea was super interesting, and probably true.
3. Then, in my Medieval Mindset class, we talked about the same time period. My teacher advanced the theory that St. Francis was canonized so quickly because the Pope was worried that people would follow St. Francis rather than him, and so he canonized him to tie the St. Francis followers into the Roman Catholic Church. Now, to me, this sounds a little crazy, especially if you think that canonizations are divinely inspired. But what was very interesting was how much some heresies overlap with other, orthodox, traditions. The line between heresy and orthodoxy is so very thin in some places!
4. In my theater class, we discussed and saw the play Daniel Stein. It's based on a book which was originally in Russian, which is loosely based on a real person. Anyway, the story is of a Jewish man who works as a translator for the Gestapo in WWII. After he uses his inside knowledge to help a Jewish ghetto, he has to flee. He hides with Catholic nuns, becomes Catholic, and then a Catholic priest. He goes to Israel to try to found a community like the original church in the first century, before Judaism and Catholicism became so different from each other. However, he gets into all sorts of trouble with the church, because part of what he does is reject Church doctrines (like the Trinity) that were solidified in later centuries. These conflicts never get really straightened out because Daniel dies in a car accident. Nevertheless, it's interesting to me that what got Daniel into trouble was not so much his beliefs as his lack of beliefs.
5. A side note to a paper I am writing is the heresy of Joachim von Fiore. He wrote a book attacking Peter Lombard and his doctrine of the Trinity. Then he sent his book to the pope, to get an opinion on the orthodoxy of his opinions so he could know if they were in line with Church teaching. And, too bad for him, the Fourth Lateran Council condemned him and his book, and said that Peter Lombard was correct. It did praise Peter Lombard, though, for checking.
6. Yesterday, a friend of mine and I were discussing religion and the Church. (This is the same friend who recommended The Name of the Rose. He and Kevin and I have some awesome deep discussions. He also might be reading this, so hi!) Anyway, he started to ask a question, prefacing it with the two caveats that one, he hoped this wasn't offensive and he didn't mean it offensively, and two, he knew it might be hard for me to answer this question objectively, so I was prepared for some tricky theology question or something. But the question was, aren't there some popes and bishops throughout history who have done some really evil things? To which, of course, the answer is yes by any moral standard. My father likes to say that given the people who have led the Church in the past, the fact that she still exists is a testament to her divine guidance!
7. But what it all comes down to, I think, is authority. Does the Church have authority, or not? If the Church has authority and is inspired by the Holy Spirit, then you follow her. If not, you don't. The line between orthodoxy and heterodoxy is fine, but the line is there. To a regular person, it's so hard to sort out. For God, it's easy. I would hate to be a Protestant and have to figure everything out by myself. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have the Church to guide me in my theology, especially in my metaphysics.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
3/50
I have already done three of the things on my summer fun list! This is what I have done so far:
1. Read The Name of the Rose. (Spoiler-free review coming up!) I thought this book was fascinating, for sure. It was recommended to me by a dear friend who I have had many a philosophical and theological discussion with. The basic setup is a murder mystery set in a medieval monastery. The detective is a monk who is interested in the philosophy of Francis Bacon and reasons much like Sherlock Holmes. At times, the prose got very thick and I felt like I was wading rather than reading, but I did enjoy reading this book anyway. I don't think there are any characters I agreed with completely, but there are some very interesting threads of thought running through the book. The two threads I found most interesting were the questions about heresy and the question of whether books and knowledge should be restricted and/or censored.
9. Try gluten-free beer. I found gluten-free beer at the health food store across the street, so I thought I would try it. It wasn't amazing, but it wasn't terrible. I would say it tasted like a standard American beer. Or maybe the Americans I know don't drink the standard American beer. Anyway, it was not tooo expensive (1,19E for a bottle) and I will be keeping it in mind for things like cookouts where beer is far and away the most appropriate drink.
25. Go to the Augustiner Museum. This is an awesome museum if you like medieval local art. It had lots of stained-glass windows and statues that were taken out of the cathedral at some point.
I doubt I can keep this rate of completion up, but we will see! Every time I post one of these updates, I'll update the original list with the date I completed each thing.
1. Read The Name of the Rose. (Spoiler-free review coming up!) I thought this book was fascinating, for sure. It was recommended to me by a dear friend who I have had many a philosophical and theological discussion with. The basic setup is a murder mystery set in a medieval monastery. The detective is a monk who is interested in the philosophy of Francis Bacon and reasons much like Sherlock Holmes. At times, the prose got very thick and I felt like I was wading rather than reading, but I did enjoy reading this book anyway. I don't think there are any characters I agreed with completely, but there are some very interesting threads of thought running through the book. The two threads I found most interesting were the questions about heresy and the question of whether books and knowledge should be restricted and/or censored.
9. Try gluten-free beer. I found gluten-free beer at the health food store across the street, so I thought I would try it. It wasn't amazing, but it wasn't terrible. I would say it tasted like a standard American beer. Or maybe the Americans I know don't drink the standard American beer. Anyway, it was not tooo expensive (1,19E for a bottle) and I will be keeping it in mind for things like cookouts where beer is far and away the most appropriate drink.
25. Go to the Augustiner Museum. This is an awesome museum if you like medieval local art. It had lots of stained-glass windows and statues that were taken out of the cathedral at some point.
I doubt I can keep this rate of completion up, but we will see! Every time I post one of these updates, I'll update the original list with the date I completed each thing.
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Summer Fun List
Catholic Caitie Rose had a great idea: a summer fun list! I am going to borrow this idea and make my own list.
However, I am going to declare that summer starts now. Of course, it isn't summer, but I want this list to include things to do in Freiburg, and I only get about a month without classes this year anyway. So this is not so much a summer list as a list of things to do before senior year starts. I don't necessarily expect to complete this whole list, as that would require doing (roughly) 3.6 things a week, but we will see.
1. Read The Name of the Rose. Completed on May 20th, 2013.
2. Ride the Schauinslandbahn.
3. Ride the Sauschwaenzlebahn.
4. Do a wine tasting at one of the wine places one stop away from my house. Completed on May 22nd, 2013.
5. Spend several hours birdwatching in the woods near my house.
6. Spend several hours birdwatching at the Seepark, where ducks hang out. Completed on May 30th, 2013.
7. Run 10 miles at least once.
8. Finish a bottle of calcium pills. I have been so bad about taking those recently!
9. Try gluten-free beer. Completed on May 18th, 2013.
10. Have an American-style cookout with friends for the 4th of July.
11. Read Part II of the Jesus of Nazareth series, in German.
12. Finish reading Plato's Gorgias in Greek.
13. Get a grad school writing sample into at least first draft form.
14. Finish reading the Gospel of Matthew in Greek.
15. Go to Rome.
16. Get a rosary blessed by Pope Francis.
17. Visit the relics of my patron saint, in either Rome or France. (They were divided.)
18. Preferably both!
19. Organize all the pictures I took in Germany.
20. Post them all on Facebook.
21. Send a postcard to everyone I am supposed to send a postcard to this semester!
22. Fix my bicycle's loose handlebars.
23. Mail my sister the baby socks I made her.
24. Go hiking.
25. Go to the Augustiner Museum. Completed on May 21st, 2013.
26. Sew myself another piece of clothing.
27. Make some more jam.
28. Go to Ikea just to have lunch there.
29. Ride the Oldtimerlinie. Completed on June 1st, 2013.
30. Reread Plato's Republic.
31. Take a tour of the Cathedral.
32. Climb the Cathedral tower.
33. Get a haircut.
34. Do something about the sad pathetic state of my house plants. Completed on May 28th, 2013.
35. Save money towards an icon of my patron saint.
36. Go 24 hours without using my computer at all, for anything.
37. Make a scrapbook of my semester in Germany.
38. Pray all four sets of mysteries of the rosary at once. Completed on June 2nd, 2013.
39. Do a facebook friend purge.
40. Go to a Freiburg Sacristans game. Completed on May 25th, 2013.
41. Buy a gluten-free cookbook.
42. Go a week without using Facebook.
43. Figure out what to do with the condensed milk in my fridge that I bought by accident.
44. Clean out my backpack.
45. Fix the broken hook and eye on my skirt.
46. Make a loaf of gluten-free bread from scratch.
47. Come up with a budget for next semester that involves concrete numbers.
48. Take my little siblings fishing.
49. Get another turtle.
50. Buy a copy of the Bible in German.
However, I am going to declare that summer starts now. Of course, it isn't summer, but I want this list to include things to do in Freiburg, and I only get about a month without classes this year anyway. So this is not so much a summer list as a list of things to do before senior year starts. I don't necessarily expect to complete this whole list, as that would require doing (roughly) 3.6 things a week, but we will see.
2. Ride the Schauinslandbahn.
3. Ride the Sauschwaenzlebahn.
5. Spend several hours birdwatching in the woods near my house.
7. Run 10 miles at least once.
8. Finish a bottle of calcium pills. I have been so bad about taking those recently!
10. Have an American-style cookout with friends for the 4th of July.
11. Read Part II of the Jesus of Nazareth series, in German.
12. Finish reading Plato's Gorgias in Greek.
13. Get a grad school writing sample into at least first draft form.
14. Finish reading the Gospel of Matthew in Greek.
15. Go to Rome.
16. Get a rosary blessed by Pope Francis.
17. Visit the relics of my patron saint, in either Rome or France. (They were divided.)
18. Preferably both!
19. Organize all the pictures I took in Germany.
20. Post them all on Facebook.
21. Send a postcard to everyone I am supposed to send a postcard to this semester!
22. Fix my bicycle's loose handlebars.
23. Mail my sister the baby socks I made her.
24. Go hiking.
26. Sew myself another piece of clothing.
27. Make some more jam.
28. Go to Ikea just to have lunch there.
30. Reread Plato's Republic.
31. Take a tour of the Cathedral.
32. Climb the Cathedral tower.
33. Get a haircut.
35. Save money towards an icon of my patron saint.
36. Go 24 hours without using my computer at all, for anything.
37. Make a scrapbook of my semester in Germany.
39. Do a facebook friend purge.
41. Buy a gluten-free cookbook.
42. Go a week without using Facebook.
43. Figure out what to do with the condensed milk in my fridge that I bought by accident.
44. Clean out my backpack.
45. Fix the broken hook and eye on my skirt.
46. Make a loaf of gluten-free bread from scratch.
47. Come up with a budget for next semester that involves concrete numbers.
48. Take my little siblings fishing.
49. Get another turtle.
50. Buy a copy of the Bible in German.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Readjusting thinking
So I spent the last week rather frustrated, because I feel like this semester is a bit of an academic waste. Two of my four classes have almost zero work involved, and the other two are not super challenging either, although I have high hopes that that will change. I was getting cranky about this, and wondering if it was a bad decision to come to Germany.
Then I had a conversation with my father, who managed to cheer me up and give me a new way to think about this semester. He said that I should look at this semester as an opportunity to learn a lot about something I want to learn about. Rather than being frustrated that I'm not learning a huge amount in class, I can use my extra free time to learn a lot outside of class!
Since hearing that, I have been so much more cheerful. It makes perfect sense, and yet I never thought of it! I don't want to spread myself out too thin, so I picked two goals for this semester, besides the inevitable improvement of my German skills. Here is what the goals are:
Work on my Greek. A lot. And hopefully improve it substantially. I have been reading the New Testament with Kevin, but I am also going to get a copy of the Gorgias and read that, since I'm taking a grad class on it next semester.
Get my writing sample for grad school in order. I need to pick a paper I already wrote and lengthen, expand, and polish it. I hope I won't need to write a whole new one.
Today is the first day of the rest of my life!
Then I had a conversation with my father, who managed to cheer me up and give me a new way to think about this semester. He said that I should look at this semester as an opportunity to learn a lot about something I want to learn about. Rather than being frustrated that I'm not learning a huge amount in class, I can use my extra free time to learn a lot outside of class!
Since hearing that, I have been so much more cheerful. It makes perfect sense, and yet I never thought of it! I don't want to spread myself out too thin, so I picked two goals for this semester, besides the inevitable improvement of my German skills. Here is what the goals are:
Work on my Greek. A lot. And hopefully improve it substantially. I have been reading the New Testament with Kevin, but I am also going to get a copy of the Gorgias and read that, since I'm taking a grad class on it next semester.
Get my writing sample for grad school in order. I need to pick a paper I already wrote and lengthen, expand, and polish it. I hope I won't need to write a whole new one.
Today is the first day of the rest of my life!
Sunday, April 21, 2013
μετὰ λόγου
So I was thinking about nothing yesterday and I think I had an insight. Or possibly I just realized something that everyone else already knew.
Who are the three groups of people who are most likely to be killed or institutionalized in modern society? The answer, I think, is the unborn, the very old, and the mentally ill. What is one factor which is common to all of these groups?
A large percentage of their members can't speak, either properly or at all.
My theory is that we subconsciously have a hard time recognizing people with whom we can't communicate as human. On a large-scale level, we see people who cannot speak at all, like the unborn, as not human. On a smaller scale, we see people who have lost the ability to talk, or who never figured it out right, or even who speak a different language, as less human than us.
Even Aristotle might agree with this...sort of. He says that the proper function of man (the thing that man can do that other animals can't) is to act "in conformity with rational principle." (For those who care deeply: Nichomachean Ethics, 1098a, whatever translation is on the Perseus project.) What is the phrase "in conformity with rational principle" in Greek? It's the title of this post, μετὰ λόγου. Now logos, as everyone has probably been told seventy times at least, is a complicated word. It can mean rational principle, but it can also mean speech or word. For Aristotle and all the ancient Greeks, the very concept of rationality is tied up with language!
Having said that, I don't know what the next thing to say is. I mean, clearly, as a Catholic, I think people who can't speak are people too. People who can't think are also people too. So I don't know that I have a point here, so much as an observation. Nevertheless, I would be interested to hear people's thoughts. First of all, am I missing a category of people who tends to be killed or locked away that can speak? Is not being able to speak is the reason, or is it something else? (The obvious one that comes to my mind is the weak, but I think--and correct me if I'm wrong on this too--that the physically weak are not discriminated against in the same way the mentally weak are.) Any other thoughts, musings, observations of your own? Does some this suggest some change to public policy? Should it? What about our private behavior? I really have no idea what the answers to any of these questions are. So chime in with your own thoughts!
Who are the three groups of people who are most likely to be killed or institutionalized in modern society? The answer, I think, is the unborn, the very old, and the mentally ill. What is one factor which is common to all of these groups?
A large percentage of their members can't speak, either properly or at all.
My theory is that we subconsciously have a hard time recognizing people with whom we can't communicate as human. On a large-scale level, we see people who cannot speak at all, like the unborn, as not human. On a smaller scale, we see people who have lost the ability to talk, or who never figured it out right, or even who speak a different language, as less human than us.
Even Aristotle might agree with this...sort of. He says that the proper function of man (the thing that man can do that other animals can't) is to act "in conformity with rational principle." (For those who care deeply: Nichomachean Ethics, 1098a, whatever translation is on the Perseus project.) What is the phrase "in conformity with rational principle" in Greek? It's the title of this post, μετὰ λόγου. Now logos, as everyone has probably been told seventy times at least, is a complicated word. It can mean rational principle, but it can also mean speech or word. For Aristotle and all the ancient Greeks, the very concept of rationality is tied up with language!
Having said that, I don't know what the next thing to say is. I mean, clearly, as a Catholic, I think people who can't speak are people too. People who can't think are also people too. So I don't know that I have a point here, so much as an observation. Nevertheless, I would be interested to hear people's thoughts. First of all, am I missing a category of people who tends to be killed or locked away that can speak? Is not being able to speak is the reason, or is it something else? (The obvious one that comes to my mind is the weak, but I think--and correct me if I'm wrong on this too--that the physically weak are not discriminated against in the same way the mentally weak are.) Any other thoughts, musings, observations of your own? Does some this suggest some change to public policy? Should it? What about our private behavior? I really have no idea what the answers to any of these questions are. So chime in with your own thoughts!
Friday, April 12, 2013
7 quick takes
1. A priest alumnus of CUA just got awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously! Go here and scroll down to Rev. Emil Kapaun. He is also a Servant of God and up for beatification (although that link is from 2010 so it's kind of out of date). This is exciting. I hope I will live to see a CUA alumnus canonized! There's a Washington Post story about him here.
2. I went on a lovely hike with some friends from IES today. We tried to find some old ruins, but we took a wrong turn somewhere and by the time we figured out where we were, the ruins were very far away. We found a lovely cross on the mountainside as a monument to the first and second World Wars. It was what the Germans would call a "Mahnmal," which is a monument that also serves as a reminder not to do something again!
3. Kevin found me a recipe for gluten-free American-takeout-style sesame chicken. I have never been more excited for a recipe in my life. I am trying it on Sunday.
4. I am trying so hard to be open to this German apartment where I am living with complete strangers, but someone messed my French press all up. It is bent and stained and I seriously have no idea how someone damaged it that much in one morning. Also, someone who can't read the large sign that says to remove your shoes tracked dirt all over the bathroom, which, when combined with the water from her shower, led to mud on the bathroom floor. The real problem is that, since I don't know these people, I have a hard time confronting them. My poor French press is staying in my room from now on, and if I get a new one, that one is too.
5. My classes for this semester also got all confused and messed up. One of them got canceled, and one of them turns out to conflict with a bunch of mandatory excursions for another class. At this point, it looks like I will be taking four courses (not counting the German course I took earlier), but I am going to wait for a week or two to tell CUA this, just in case another problem arises.
6. The plus side of not being able to take my original schedule is that it increases the chances I can go to Greece, at least a little bit. Apparently it would be cheaper to leave Thursday night. Now granted I have a class Thursday night, but I think I could skip it once with no very bad effects, or possibly leave after it.
7. Even though these last few takes have been negative, I am having a good time. I can't wait to settle into a routine once all my classes start!
(Edit: I forgot to add the link to the rest of the quick takes! Duh! Here you go.)
2. I went on a lovely hike with some friends from IES today. We tried to find some old ruins, but we took a wrong turn somewhere and by the time we figured out where we were, the ruins were very far away. We found a lovely cross on the mountainside as a monument to the first and second World Wars. It was what the Germans would call a "Mahnmal," which is a monument that also serves as a reminder not to do something again!
3. Kevin found me a recipe for gluten-free American-takeout-style sesame chicken. I have never been more excited for a recipe in my life. I am trying it on Sunday.
4. I am trying so hard to be open to this German apartment where I am living with complete strangers, but someone messed my French press all up. It is bent and stained and I seriously have no idea how someone damaged it that much in one morning. Also, someone who can't read the large sign that says to remove your shoes tracked dirt all over the bathroom, which, when combined with the water from her shower, led to mud on the bathroom floor. The real problem is that, since I don't know these people, I have a hard time confronting them. My poor French press is staying in my room from now on, and if I get a new one, that one is too.
5. My classes for this semester also got all confused and messed up. One of them got canceled, and one of them turns out to conflict with a bunch of mandatory excursions for another class. At this point, it looks like I will be taking four courses (not counting the German course I took earlier), but I am going to wait for a week or two to tell CUA this, just in case another problem arises.
6. The plus side of not being able to take my original schedule is that it increases the chances I can go to Greece, at least a little bit. Apparently it would be cheaper to leave Thursday night. Now granted I have a class Thursday night, but I think I could skip it once with no very bad effects, or possibly leave after it.
7. Even though these last few takes have been negative, I am having a good time. I can't wait to settle into a routine once all my classes start!
(Edit: I forgot to add the link to the rest of the quick takes! Duh! Here you go.)
Friday, April 5, 2013
7 quick takes Friday
1. Happy Easter to all! I had a great Easter with four good friends. We had a lovely afternoon cooking, chatting, and hearing about the trip to Turkey that three of them had just taken.
2. In the spirit of Easter, or in a fit of madness, I have committed to spending one hour in a church every day until Pentecost. Usually I go to the cathedral, because it's always open, and spend some time just sitting in a pew and reading Jesus of Nazareth. It is a great book, and I am really enjoying it. If I go to the cathedral late enough, they close it to tourists and have Eucharistic Adoration, which is always wonderful. I haven't made it to a daily Mass yet, because they are all either much earlier than I feel like getting up, or right in the middle of dinner time.
3. There are almost exactly two days left until the start of the Freiburg Half Marathon. I am super excited, as well as a little bit freaked out. I am quite sure I can do it, since I ran 11 miles two weeks ago, but I am a competitive enough person that I am worried about my time, especially since I paid to have it engraved on the back of my medal!
4. Classes started on Tuesday. I have had two sessions of my German theater class. My medieval art class is once a week on Mondays, so the first meeting of that is on Monday. My other three classes are through the university and don't start until the 15th. I like my drama teacher a lot. Yesterday we picked our topics for our two presentations. I will be giving a presentation on costumes and one on the play Daniel Stein (which is based on the book by the same name) which is about a Jewish translator for the Gestapo who saves many Jews and then becomes a Catholic priest. I'm looking forward to reading it!
5. I finished my 1000 piece puzzle of Tuscany. However, it's missing a piece! This is probably a metaphor for something.
6. Since I share a kitchen with relative strangers, I wasn't sure how I felt about the prospect of dying Easter eggs with vinegar and food coloring the way I usually do. So I improvised! Behold Sharpie-decorated eggs! I think they came out quite well:
I made the first, third, and fifth ones (counting from the left). Kevin made the other three. Clearly, he has more artistic talent than I do. Between the six eggs, we have three different languages going on! The tricky part of decorating German eggs is that every egg has the region where it comes from stamped on it, which is not attractive, but can be tricky to cover.
7. Speaking of eggs, we got a box of free-range eggs from the open-air market a few weeks ago, and my goodness you can tell the difference! Keeping chickens in the cages PETA likes to complain about is illegal in Germany, but even so the yolks of the free-range are much more orange and the eggs have more flavor.
The eggshells are also much harder to break. I'm not sure why that is, but it's rather annoying. This week I bought the regular eggs from Aldi instead of the free-range eggs. The free-range ones from the market are more than twice the price of the ones from Aldi, which is a little hard to pay given how many eggs I eat. I will probably switch back and forth--it is more fun to buy local food!
2. In the spirit of Easter, or in a fit of madness, I have committed to spending one hour in a church every day until Pentecost. Usually I go to the cathedral, because it's always open, and spend some time just sitting in a pew and reading Jesus of Nazareth. It is a great book, and I am really enjoying it. If I go to the cathedral late enough, they close it to tourists and have Eucharistic Adoration, which is always wonderful. I haven't made it to a daily Mass yet, because they are all either much earlier than I feel like getting up, or right in the middle of dinner time.
3. There are almost exactly two days left until the start of the Freiburg Half Marathon. I am super excited, as well as a little bit freaked out. I am quite sure I can do it, since I ran 11 miles two weeks ago, but I am a competitive enough person that I am worried about my time, especially since I paid to have it engraved on the back of my medal!
4. Classes started on Tuesday. I have had two sessions of my German theater class. My medieval art class is once a week on Mondays, so the first meeting of that is on Monday. My other three classes are through the university and don't start until the 15th. I like my drama teacher a lot. Yesterday we picked our topics for our two presentations. I will be giving a presentation on costumes and one on the play Daniel Stein (which is based on the book by the same name) which is about a Jewish translator for the Gestapo who saves many Jews and then becomes a Catholic priest. I'm looking forward to reading it!
5. I finished my 1000 piece puzzle of Tuscany. However, it's missing a piece! This is probably a metaphor for something.
6. Since I share a kitchen with relative strangers, I wasn't sure how I felt about the prospect of dying Easter eggs with vinegar and food coloring the way I usually do. So I improvised! Behold Sharpie-decorated eggs! I think they came out quite well:
7. Speaking of eggs, we got a box of free-range eggs from the open-air market a few weeks ago, and my goodness you can tell the difference! Keeping chickens in the cages PETA likes to complain about is illegal in Germany, but even so the yolks of the free-range are much more orange and the eggs have more flavor.
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