Goodbye Holidays!

Holidays came to an end today... well, they kinda came to an end a little while ago.

One of the last things we did with our holidays was a trip to the Zoo! All I'll say for now is that Peregrine Falcons are fast - very fast! The bird show was great, and it was a little different to last time we were there. We have a good deal on Zoo tickets here in our little college community, so you'll probably see more zoo excursions a little later in the year.

(Spot the Uncle Tim)

Hebrew Intensive. Two weeks of it. That's what really brought holidays to an end. I managed to get all of my holiday work happily finished, including reading Calvin's Institutes - which was a pleasure for any who would care to give it a go - and then came Hebrew...

Ok, the short, sharp version. It was tough - covering 50% of the whole year's work - but there were real glimmers of joy as we saw the rewards of our study. Andrew Shead really got us into the text of the Bible in Hebrew (the original Old Testament language): it was brilliant. Seeing a bit of how Hebrew story-telling works was really fun, and the real-world benefit of it was pretty abundantly obvious (e.g. seeing the flow of a story much more clearly, etc.)

We had an exam on Friday and I can't say it was a monster, but it was hard. The translations were pretty cool, though.

Holidays came to a complete end with our "Second Year House Party" (i.e. weekend away with our classmates). It was at a resort (caravan park) down near Wollongong. Good times :)


In other news:

• I'm riding to college every day now with my good mates Matt and Jai. (25+ mins each way!)
• I've discovered bookdepository.co.uk. My first books came last week and Nick says that I need to admit I have a new addiction :)
• Our plants are mostly quite happy: peas, carrots, spinach, and beetroot have all sprouted recently.
  

Citric Acid Works

My mate Matt put me onto Coffee for Connoisseurs. Interestingly, they recommend Citric Acid for descaling your espresso machine! Well, I can confidently say that it works. My steam wand was hopeless. Now it's great; it has a new lease of life!

Our Backyard and The Fall

Yep. Two totally disconnected things that I wanted to tell you all about. I guess I've enjoyed both of them this Summer (that's as near to a common theme as we'll get!)...

First our backyard. Negatively: it's tiny, it's something of a thoroughfare, I've killed two nasty spiders there. Positively: there's dirt (now the home of some herbs and veggies), Noah likes it.

But the coolest thing about our yard is that it backs onto this yard - the communal grounds of the main College property out here.This is the view out of our back door and over our fence (no, we don't have a gate directly onto the lawns). The sandpit, the trampolines, the space. Who'd have thought that this is Sydney!?

Ok, secondly: The Fall, by Camus. I love it. Read it. I know I write a lot about books on this blog, but this is one that I really like. It's not a Christian book by any means (Camus was an existential philsopher from mid last century). I'll contain myself to two comments.

1. I think one of the biggest things that draws me to Camus is that he describes a 'liveable' atheism. i.e. If God had never made himself known, if Jesus never came - this is (horrific) life.
2. Camus really understands people. The Fall reads a bit like The Screwtape Letters - it's very perceptive about the stuff that lurks around in our hearts and minds.

Two disconnected things :)

Emotional Intelligence

Man, this photo looks like stock!Anyway, I asked one of my lecturers if he could recommend a good pastoral read about anger and better controlling our emotions. Goleman's 'Emotional Intelligence' was one of the handful that he recommended. It's not written by a Christian (as far as I can tell); in fact it seems like there aren't any stand-out Christian books on the topic!

It's a good read. American, pop psychology stuff - readable, but a bit repetitive, and full of data from studies. There are a few things I really like about it.

1. He starts out with some really interesting stuff on the brain and the inner-workings of an emotional hijacking. I reckon it's just amazing how our brains work. So complicated, so elegant, but so rotten when it's put to all the wrong ends.
   
2. He's got an agenda: to see that the next generation is more emotionally competent than this one. And that's what makes the whole enterprise readily applicable. He targets parents, teachers, the medical profession. If it weren't for his agenda the book would be boring, to me at least.
   

I'd like to give you my two cents on how I reckon psychology and neurology relate to depravity, ethics, and the work of the Holy Spirit... but that might have to be another day (one on which I've actually thought it through some more!). Ask me some time.

For now, I recommend it. Three-and-a-half stars. Especially if you want to think through just how emotions work, where we go seriously wrong sometimes, and some practical measures in line with Goleman's agenda.

Veggies and Herbs

So this is a bit of a story of two episodes.

It's been pouring with rain here for the last week, but we've been wanting to get some herbs in so Noah and I got to work :)
After my second 'hideous-spider encounter' for the week we dug our little garden bed. This is just beneath our kitchen window (not in the communal veggie patch).

It started to rain as I popped our new little friends into the ground so Noah had to sit the final stage out. But he came back to see how I'd done... He's rather fond of that little hoe, too.

Chives, Basil, Rosemary, Thyme, Coriander, and (still to be planted) Italian Parsley. I'll give them a chance to get cosy yet before I sample their wares.

Episode two: Veggies from seed. It started with a trip to the local garden centre and thankfully they have lions there. Lions, cockatoos, coffee...
...and seeds, of course. We're planning on putting the peas along the lattice in our backyard. The others will go in the veggie patch (except the tomatoes).