a myriad of subjects, really.

Well, what to blog about.  Here is a small sampler of things I have been thinking about/doing the past week or so.

Darrell, Lyz and Arloa came to visit.  It was a grand visit and a lot of fun.  It was nice to reconnect with people back home and both Rachel and I came away feeling encouraged and refreshed in what we are doing here.  (Arloa is the director of SOOP and Youth Venture with MMN).  

So this is pretty much everyone we are connected with here in Bradford (sans P. Flowers).

Val and Barry are in the back, then there is Ruth (Paul B.'s wife, and he is kneeling on the ground, by me.)  By Ruth is Alex, another vicar.  Peeking out is Tim, the MMN European worker, then Arloa, Lyz, me, Rachel and Darrell.  

And so a few other pictures of our time with them all...

We spent the weekend, around Bradford and Leeds, talking and eating.  

We decided that since Darrell was  here, he could make us Italian, and then Rachel and I cut out Christmas pasta shapes with our cookie cutters.  Pasta shaped as reindeer is so festive...I may never go back.  :)

Santa Claus is universal, no matter your religion.  So, we work at a school is is primarily Muslim students right?  And then celebrate Eid instead of Christmas.  So, I assumed that on Christmas, they didn't really do anything, logical, right?  I thought so.  But, this week I found out that while they don't necessarily celebrate Christmas the way Christians so they do partake in some holiday festivities.  For example, some of the students in class were telling me about how they were setting up a Christmas tree with nice baubles.  And that they get a few presents on Christmas, even though they are Muslim.  How interesting!  I wonder what I festivities I would join in on if I was living where the dominant religion was something other than Christianity.  

I love America.  I have discovered this is oh, in  the past few hours, but I think it's around to stick.  So, I have never really been patriotic, and more or lessapathetic to America and our mores.  I have always loved learning about other cultures and traveling, but now that I am here in England, there are so many things that I appreciate about America (and Oregon!).  (Although, there are many things that I do not like about America(n's)).  And there are many things I do appreciate about England as well, I just didn't expect my surge of American pride to come when I was living here.

So the picture is in ode to Oregon (but I didn't take it...)  I saw Twilight (yes, Twilight) tonight, and it re-enforced my love of my home state, because much of the filming was done in Oregon.

School is out for the holidays, and I'm looking forward to Christmas, even though it will be so different from what I am used to, but that's also the glory of it too.  There will be no little neices or nephews to chase after, pizza on Christmas Eve, red and green jell-o, a grandmother's yearly Christmas poem, or rag-tag picture of all the cousins taking place.  Rachel and I are headed down to London to the Mennonite Centre there, and I can't help but be excited though, to experience something different and unique.