27 October 2014

Post-Reading-Week-Post

I just realized that the weekend has slipped past me and I didn't write anything.  I had a lovely reading week - I got some work done (i.e. readings and papers due this week), and I was still able to take some time off to play "tourist" around Halifax and spend some quality time with some of the fiction that has been piling up on my bedside table.

I won't bore you with pictures of the schoolwork that I did, but here are a few pictures I took on my tourist day.  Note that this was the only sunny day we had all week - the rest of the week was perfect for spending sitting at my desk with textbooks or curled up on my sofa with novels.

Looking out to sea from Point Pleasant Park 

The Halifax Citadel 

The Public Gardens - I couldn't pick just one picture from the gardens, so the 
next couple of pictures were all taken here.

The dahlia beds were stunning 

So much colour for late-October. 

Pier 21 is where many immigrants arrived in Canada, and it is now the Canadian Museum of Immigration.  This was an emotional stop for me, as it tells individual stories of the decision to immigrate to Canada as well as the experience of arriving here.  I love my country!

And this picture was taken on a different (less sunny and more windy) day at the 
Lawrencetown beach.  The surfers were out!

20 October 2014

Reading Week!

Today is Monday, the first official day of the fall reading week.  Though since I don't have any classes on Fridays, I guess that last Friday was my first unofficial day of the fall reading week.  I am very excited about this - my first reading week in 15+ years.  And even in my previous degree, done back in the days when physiotherapy was still a Bachelor's degree, we rarely got a full week off for reading week.  Our class schedule was always a bit different than the rest of the university since we had 5-6 week clinical placements scattered throughout the years; and so our reading "weeks" often ended up as reading 2-3 days.

I have plans for this week… Mwa-ha-ha-ha.  Well, actually, most of my plans involve actual reading.  I do have schoolwork to get done.  So far, I've done the reading for 2 classes next week and written an 8-page paper due next Tuesday.  And I also want to take a day with nothing to do but read fiction - something that I haven't had much time for recently.  And on my fiction day I want to slip out to a bookstore since my current journal is almost full, plus Anne Marie MacDonald has a new book out :-)  Have I mentioned that I am a fan of fiction???  And then I want to take one day to play tourist, and see something more of this city than just my apartment, the school, and the public transit routes in between. Looking at the forecast for the week, I suspect that tomorrow will be my tourist day…



And I have another First-time-in-15+-years event coming up next week - my first midterm exam in a while.  Theological Foundations, next Tuesday morning.  Which brings me to my agenda for today - studying!  I guess I'd better get off Blogger and open up my books...

12 October 2014

My Student Card

It has been a busy autumn, adjusting to being a student again after working full-time(ish) for the past 15(ish) years.  One thing that had fallen by the wayside was going to the gym.  Back at home, I normally went to the gym 3-4 times per week; and I know that I feel better and have more energy when I exercise regularly.  But knowing that this would be a major life adjustment, I gave myself permission not to feel guilty if I don't make it to the gym regularly this semester.

And for the first 5 weeks, I didn't make it there.  Partly it was because I felt overwhelmed with all the work; and partly because of the logistics of carrying my gym bag as well as my school bag across the harbour with me on the ferry/bus.

But this week, I managed to get to the gym twice!  The school that I am attending is too small to have a gym, but part of our student fees go to the school just up the street from us, and so we get access to their gym.  And a lovely gym it is too.  Clean, friendly, in good repair, and the nicest shower area of any gym I've ever been to.  All I have to do is swipe my student card, and I can get access to it all!

And that isn't the only benefit to having a student card again.

I just have to wave my student card at the bus driver or gatekeeper at the ferry terminal, and I can get on without paying.

On Tuesdays, if I show my student card at the grocery store, I can get a 10% discount on my purchases.

If I sign in with my student card, I can get access not only to the library at my school, but also the libraries of every university in the province.  And they will even deliver books that I request to my school for me within a couple of days!

So I guess being a student isn't all just hard work :-)


(my student card - it's been a few years since I last had one of these!)

3 October 2014

Perichoresis

In our Theological Foundations class this week, we were learning about and discussing the Trinity; and this included the concept of "perichoresis."  Our textbook (McGrath, Alister.  Christian Theology:  An Introduction) rather dryly defines perichoresis as, "the basic notion … that all three persons of the Trinity mutually share in the life of the others, so that none is isolated or detached from the actions of the others," or, "mutual interpenetration," or, "a community of being, in which each person, while maintaining its distinctive identity, penetrates the others and is penetrated by them."

OK.  Things become much more fun when you go to the Greek roots of the word.  "Peri" = "around" and "choreia" = "dance."  And so I propose the following alternate definition of perichoresis.  Do you think that I could get away with this definition on our exam?


Perichoresis

Three girls
holding hands in a circle.
Dancing
spinning
twirling
whirling
holding tight
never letting go.
Long hair flying wildly in the wind,
skirts swirling madly outward,
feet stamping out intricate choreography,
hands forever holding fast,
dancing to the music of the cosmos.
Dancing through space
dancing through time
now this one leading
now that one leading
always together
dancing the dance with no beginning
with no end
always three
always one.