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September 21, 2005
new life
So I guess by now I should have mentioned that I'm officially a Seminarian.
It's a new world for me. Or at least feels like it. I remember when I graduated from Calvin and I was SOOOOO glad to be done. I swore I'd never go back to school and never take another class. Ironically, I've never really left school. I worked at Calvin for 3 years, then moved to Hungary and taught for 4 years. Now I'm at Gordon-Conwell. I also remember talking to my dad about his schooling (BA: San Diego State (4 yrs), MA: Bethel Seminary (another 4 yrs), PhD: University of Chicago (4 more yrs)) and thinking that's crazy. He was in school until he was 30! To make the irony even better, I'm starting school again only a month and a half after my 30th birthday.
Now here's the thing. I love it.
Really I do. It's great.
I'm glad I'm not in control of my life, because it's not been what I would have planned, but it's been fantastic, and I wouldn't trade any of it.
OK, now, back from my little tangent.
I'm at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, MA, USA now. Officially enrolled and taking classes toward a Master of Divinity. Right now I'm taking 4 classes: New Testament Survey, Church History to the Reformation, Spiritual Formation, and Greek I. I like all my classes. I have an unfathomable amount of work to do; but my only real irritation with that is that I can't spend more time with the material because I have to blaze through it so fast to get it all done. Seriously, this semester I have somewhere between 5000 and 6000 pages of reading to do plus a bunch of papers. It's a load. But it's a load of good stuff.
ooh, ooh, ooh, here's something else. Back to that whole 'plan' thing. Last year, even though I knew I was only staying in Hungary one more year, I found a private tutor and took Hungarian classes. Well, it turns out that (to my only slightly educated little mind) that Greek is freakishly like Hungarian! Not in alphabet or vocabulary (though the words for "hour" and "but" are exactly the same), but the grammar operates in a very similar way. See, that's cool. I couldn't have planned that.
Also, I live in a dorm. It's a cool dorm though. Originally this campus was an estate with a big mansion. Then the family that owned it gave it to the Catholic church and the Church build a monastery for young boys that wanted to enter priesthood. That folded and the Church gave it to the school in the 60s. Well, the estate had all the things that a good estate should have, including a carriage house and a servant's quarters. So that's where we live, in the servant's quarters. It's a beautiful old brick building with a quirky floor-plan, beautiful woodwork, and oodles character. There are only 19 men that live there, ranging in age from 22 to 45. It's weird having someone else sleeping in the same room as me, but mostly I like the community and camaraderie there.
I'd have pictures of all this up on the site to show you, but my camera is still slowly making its way back to me after a trip to the shop. So soon I can show you all of this.
And hopefully I can explore a bit of New England soon too. The country around here is beautiful. And today I discovered that if I stand in a certain spot on campus (the campus sits on the top of a hill), I can see the ocean. It's great.
Posted by neal on September 21, 2005 09:19 PM
Comments
So, Greek is like Hungarian. Well who'd 'ave thunk it. It's all starting to come together. God is so cool.
Posted by: Jodi on September 27, 2005 11:47 PM
When I took Greek last year, I was also pleased to see that the word for "but" was the same. And I wasn't the only one: there was another guy in the class, one Jacob Buurma, who has spent lots of time in Budapest and noticed that as well. In fact, he went to Budapest this summer and took a look around Kispest, our old stomping grounds. I think he said it had character, or something.
Posted by: elliot on October 2, 2005 11:25 PM
I'm glad you like your new life in the US of A. Cool that Greek is like Hungarian... anything to make your life easier. I also like your shaved head. We need an updated picture of the short hair.
Posted by: S'bult on October 6, 2005 05:58 PM