This may be my last entry?

So, I have graduated. I officially have a Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics and Exegesis - although I won't have the diploma until the university mails it out in a few weeks. And I have moved back home, which is producing the expected mixed emotions!

The grad ceremonies (I do like that Canadian use of the word "grad"; it's very useful) were both awesome, although quite different of course. CanIL had its own celebration on Friday night, and then the seminary had theirs Sunday afternoon. In fact, the weekend was absolutely packed with various celebratory occasions, since my parents and two friends also came up to join in the parties.

And now, the promised list:

Little things I will miss:

-green left-turn arrows that flash

-buses that say “Sorry – Out of Service”
-the Canadian version of the “Emergency Parking Only” signs on the highway

-Coffee Crisps

-pirogies (they are sold here, but they are not nearly as ubiquitous)

-Nanaimo bars

-Tim Hortons donuts, especially Timbits

-Boston Pizza

-Montana's

-the Colossus (spaceship!)

-the SkyTrain

-the pronunciation of sorry, tomorrow, south, about, house, and I'm sure I'm forgetting other examples

-the spellings of honour, Saviour, and cheque

-the words eh, keener, line-up (as a noun), and grad as an abbreviation for everything relating to graduation

-bilingual French-English signs and packaging

-the opportunity to listen to the French radio station

-switching from mph to kph, and back

-classmates and friends chatting about hockey

-the ELMO projectors in the CanIL building

-feeling the building shake when the trains go by

-free food in the CanIL Common Room

-ACTS chapel snacks

-free food in the Whitehouse kitchen

-black squirrels

-loonies and toonies

-my credit union

-RCMP patrol cars

-Super Store

-the Willowbrook produce stand

-the Canadian flag

-Remembrance Day ceremonies, and poppies

-Thanksgiving in October (and then another one in November!)

-poutine

-Global TV channel

-PRAISE 106.5 (I like it better than 105.3), and 100.5 The Peak

-Starfield, and other Canadian Christian music

-driving both north and south on I-5 on sunny days

-driving through Lynden

-the Lynden/Aldergrove border crossing

Little things I will not miss:

-the pronunciation of pasta, Mazda, and bilingual (“bi-LING-gyoo-ul” - gah!)

-the word keener (sort of a love-hate relationship)

-the smell of farmland when it's fertilizer application season

-the price of gas

-the price of dairy products

-so many medians!

-sweet ketchup

-classmates and friends chatting about hockey all. The. Time.

-long waits at the border, coming from either direction

-inexplicable traffic in Lynden and/or Bellingham

Not-so-little things I will not miss:

-researching and writing papers

-getting up – and staying awake! - for three-hour 8:30 classes

-reading theology textbooks

-walking to school in the pouring rain

-spending Sunday afternoons and nights desperately finishing homework

-having several gigantic papers all due on about the same day

-paying tuition – or attempting to do so

More important things I will miss:

-Golden Ears, these mountains, and the beauty of the Fraser Valley in general

-living in the land of “X-Files” and other sci-fi TV shows/movies

-the friendliness of Canadians (not just a stereotype!)

-Vancouver

-visiting Vancouver with friends

-Fort Langley

-TWU, ACTS, and CanIL

-registering for classes and being excited about almost every option

-being a TA

-the CanIL Common Room

-sitting around talking about nerdy linguistics things, and knowing everyone at the table gets it and will laugh along with you

-M-Files

-the CanIL computer lab

-ACTS chapel

-the grad collegium

-CanIL and ACTS friends and staff

-the Whitehouse, and Whitehouse friends

-watching “House”, “Glee”, “Doctor Who”, and “Bones” with housemates

-dinner club

-conversations around the table at the Whitehouse

-my church up here

-LifeGroup, and LifeGroup friends

In two weeks...

...it will be one day until my official graduation day!

Time has absolutely flown by. It's still hard for me to believe that I'm actually almost done with all of my schoolwork, forever (or at least for a long time! I won't say "never", because I've already learned that God has a funny way of responding when you tell him "never" about things...). I only have a project and a short paper left for Principles of Literacy, a short paper for Theology, and a lesson plan to polish up for the Discourse Analysis class I'm teaching on Monday. And then glorious freedom from schoolwork - mixed with sadness at the end of it.

This month has been insanely busy, what with all the final papers and projects that were all due at almost the same time, and my brother's wedding with its associated preparations and relatives visiting. The wedding was yesterday, and it went very well! My brother and his new wife looked radiant during the ceremony. My sister and I were candle-lighters, and we also each read a section of 1 Corinthians 13. I'm glad we got to be a part of it.

I guess I should get back to a few more school-related things before bed! Look for another post soon... although "soon" could be before or after graduation, which is kind of crazy to think about!

Not a lot of time left up here!

I'm making a list of little things I will miss and not miss about living up here, as well as big things in both category.

I'll publish it in April, after graduation. Writing it is making me both happy and sad.

Reading Week again

We had gorgeous weather until today, when it went back to the usual clouds with intermittent rain. That's perfectly all right, since it is after all how it's "supposed" to be this time of year.

Went home for the first three days of Reading Week, to spend time with friends and family. Also, my parents are heading out of the country for a translation consultant conference, so it was good to be able to see them off.

Tomorrow, Mackenzie and I are planning to meet up with friends and go to Vancouver, to partake in the various free activities available for Olympics tourists. It should be a lot of fun! I only hope it isn't pouring all or most of the time, because even if that is the normal weather, it's not quite as fun to walk around the city while getting drenched. And it's also harder to see the beauty of the city in those conditions, as well! Even if the weather isn't all that cooperative, though, we have at least already been to Vancouver once, on one of the lovely springish days this past weekend. This trip had a different theme, though. Some pictures can be seen starting there, if you're interested.

School is beginning to get quite intense, with various papers and projects coming due in the next couple of weeks. Thus, it would also be good if we could do some actual reading this Reading Week, too! (I've already done a fair amount, in fact - or it might become a problem.)

This final semester still seems to be passing so quickly... only two more months!

What's up with this weather?

As I write this blog entry, much of the eastern half of the US is being covered in an insanely huge amount of snow, much more than anyone is really used to dealing with. At the same time, here in the Vancouver area where people are preparing for the start of the Winter Olympics, the sun is shining, and daytime highs reach into the upper 40s to mid 50s (around 9 to 11 degrees Celsius, I think). I saw one tree nearby that is already in bloom, and there are enough birds that seem to believe it's already spring, too. Craziness! The Olympics people have said they're prepared to use snow-making machines for the events that require it, if necessary.

Meanwhile, classes are going well. I am close to on-schedule for all of my reading, which is nice, and I have so far avoided staying up past 12:30ish am to finish any assignments due the next day. I hesitate to say it, but it may be faintly possible that in my final semester of school, I have learned a little bit about not procrastinating. Maybe. (I don't want to jinx it.) The courses have continued to be quite enjoyable, too, although having three days of 8:30 class start time in a row hasn't gotten any easier.

TAing is still quite fun. Grading reading reports isn't quite as exciting the third time around, but it's still not boring. :) Also, I enjoy helping people figure out how to chart texts, as best I can. There will be quite a wide variety of languages represented for the texts they've all chosen for their final project/paper - Gullah, Spanish, French, several African languages, possibly Hebrew, etc. - so that will be fun and fascinating!

Now I suppose I should probably get back to work, on this bright sunny "winter" day.

Already at the second week!

Tomorrow is the first day of week 2 already! I still don't really feel quite back into the routine of school. I mean, I am re-used to Canada, to CanIL and ACTS people, to Ft. Langley people... but the amount of reading & other work I have to do hasn't quite sunk in yet. Maybe that's a good thing - as long as I still do it!

So, my other courses:

-Redemption Accomplished and Consummated (what a mouthful!): only had one meeting of it so far, but if I can just stay awake, I know it will be cool to learn more theology from this prof. I also know that when I put it like that, it sounds like it must be boring or something, but it isn't! It's just that is apparently physically impossible for me to stay totally awake for an 8:30 course. I catch myself drifting off at least a few times per hour. *sigh* It does help that chapel happens in the middle of the course, so at least a long break is guaranteed. But I really do want to stay awake - in this course, and the other two that start at 8:30.

-Greek Exegesis II: actually, I think this course might be really awesome! It will be a lot of work, but it sounds like a semester-long, in-depth Bible study of the book of Galatians. I love in-depth Bible studies, and to do one that also involves reading the original Greek just seems like it might make it better. But again, plenty of work involved.

TAing continues to be fun. The real work hasn't started yet, since people haven't turned in their first assignments yet, but it seems like a very good group.

The sermon at our church in Ft. Langley was very enjoyable today - an especially good illumination of the parable of the new wineskins. Not only do I think it's been a long time since I've heard it explained and applied so well, but I realized it really is quite a foreign metaphor for the current Western church. A good reminder that the Bible was originally written for people that did have some important things in common with us, but were very different!

And we're back!

A short version of my thoughts at the end of the first day of this, my final semester of grad school:

-Old Testament Theology should be pretty cool, if I can stay on top of the intense reading schedule. I am interested to look at the OT for itself, and not as mostly setting the stage for the NT, which is how it seems many Protestants look at it.

-Principles of Literacy should also be pretty cool. The first class was very introductory, so I don't have a lot of thoughts on it yet.

-TAing for Discourse Analysis should be pretty much the best thing ever! Even though the first day was (as I expected) mostly preparing the syllabi and handouts, and passing them out during class, it was still a lot of fun... and I do so love that course.