September 27, 2006
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tonight i went to a lecture given by the sub-dean for academic affairs. he and his wife, also a priest, went to South Africa, specifically Capetown, to meet with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. the reason for the trip was to scope out/enscribe/describe how the Desmond Tutu Education Center being built on the seminary grounds would interact with the Bishop Tutu Peace Center being constructed in Capetown.
they brought back 8 hrs of video, and it is being distilled into 1-1/2 hour presentations.... what a beautiful country South Africa is... and the progress that has been made towards reconciliation is astounding. although i have no clear idea of what i would do there, i would love to visit the Peace Center - i believe it is currently operating on university grounds. it would be excellent to visit South Africa even as a tourist, it is so lovely. plus the music is awesome...
i was so excited tonight - i found someone who speaks french!!! omg, this man is amazing. he's from the nederlands, is already ordained and is doing his doctorate here in theology. not only does he speak dutch, but his english is almost flawless, and he is able to do theological discourse in English, not even his native tongue. so we were telling how impressed we were with that, especially since he has to write a 40 page paper for this one class, and he said, "well, it is double-spaced" (he was serious too)... i remarked that i didn't think i could write a theological paper in french, which is the only other language in which i even approach fluency, and Pb immediately switches to speak in french!! so we had a pretty decent conversation in french, talking about how we learned it and how hard it might or might not be to discuss theology in that language, until the other students we were with started making fun of us...
but it was still nice. i like Pb; he has a dry sense of humor, and has a different world view than most of the other seminarians here.
on days like today i almost feel like i might fit in. eventually.
Comments (3)
I'm taking French classes, and I can understand Dutch easily since I'm Afrikaans. Cape Town is incredible, although I've never been fond of the crowds...I'm sure you'll love South Africa. I'm from Johannesburg myself.
Bah. French is an unlearnable language. I spent 7 years studying it, and still can't speak a word.
Yes, Africa can be a beautiful place. If you ignore the rivers of blood.
I am so glad you are feeling like fitting in!~ Sounds like you had a wonderful time. All the best
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