happenings and happiness

It’s been an amazing summer and I haven’t even left this wee island... I feel like it might be coming to an end soon but yet it’s just the beginning of all that’s next, which is also exciting. But the sun is still shining today which makes me think maybe summer is going to hang around for a while longer.

As I sit here typing, I'm realising I’ve kind of missed this wee venting space actually.

For those of you who want an update, I have graduated and for now I’m staying in Belfast. I’m on the hunt for a physio job but actually not too stressed about when that might appear. In the meantime, I’m starting work soon in a wee nursing home that I’ve worked in before. It’ll pay rent, keep me semi-connected to the caring/healthcare world, get me off the dole and keep me sane all of which can only be good things :)

I feel like I’ve seen more of Northern Ireland this summer than ever... random day trips (in between job hunting!) are so much more appealing with Sam and a convertible. Can you tell I’m in a good mood today? I am. For various reasons:
1. Just went for an hour long run (endorphins!) and didn’t die
2. I have a faithful God
3. I have another few weeks to chill, read, run, climb ben nevis & hang out with people until my job starts (blame the police checks...)
4. The sun is shining
5. I’m in love.

See, i’m not sure whether a return to blogging when I’m in this kind of mood will be good for the world. I suppose it’s to balance all those slightly depressed introspective blog/quotes I’ve posted over the last few years :)

Just to fulfil my quote quota for the day...
“There is a kind of happiness and wonder that makes you serious. It is too good to waste on jokes.” –CS Lewis, The Last Battle

end of an era

So, it’s the end of an era. Thankfully. I endured, I mean enjoyed one last night of the Bot... the centre of the Belfast student world (and you thought it was a university?), along with the bizarre conversations you have when your friends are wasted. I felt like I wanted to go and just see my class people one last time before we all scatter/emigrate/etc. The night began at a mad house party in the notorious Holylands (where council people arrived mid-party to tell us to shut up – rightly so...). And then to Lavery’s (?!) to hear a culchie band from Co. Tyrone who are friends of friends... not my cup of tea but was amusing! Then to the Bot where it was lovely to see everyone, but you had to shout in each other’s ears or else be content with the smile and nod approach... although to be fair, we all were saying the same thing ie: good to be done, what are you doing next (no idea) etc, so you could get away with the nod/smile even if you couldn’t hear!!! I lost my voice in the process though. Give me a quiet pub any day. Maybe I’m just getting old. Then about 12ish, a friend and I decided to head to another classmate’s house for a couple hours to catch the end of a quiet barbeque, beer and chat with a random mix of interesting people – much more my cup of tea. It was a good, celebratory night in the end, even though I started out dreading the Bot part - it is still a whole different culture that I have never come to properly appreciate and don’t think I ever will but sometimes when in Rome and all that....

I have made a few good friends that I hope I can keep. Sometimes friendships are easy when you see people most days for four years.

And so to the start of summer, the month of research for one of my lecturers in June (not quite away from the university yet, but at least it’s paid!) graduation no2 and then to whatever’s next!

In the short term, 2 books just arrived in the post and Donegal is beckoning... not a bad start to the rest of my life.

imagination

I’ve decided that Spurgeon is the man... so have a few other people (check this out for Piper’s view ages ago and Driscoll’s blog recently). My wee nephew and my grandfather share/d the first part of his name which has probably has increased my interest in him, initially at least. I took his morning and evening devotional with me to South Africa and so many times I read things that just made sense for that day, even if it was written so long ago.

I have this thing about quotes (ask my family). I love them. I know it’s silly and probably it makes my own thoughts a bit unoriginal, but somehow the way someone puts a simple thought in words captures my imagination. Here’s a few from Spurgeon that I wrote down over the summer...
“Our griefs cannot mar the melody of our praise; we reckon them to be the bass part of our life’s song”
“The fig tree may not blossom and the flocks may cease from the field, it matters not to the man who can sing ‘My beloved is mine and I am His’.”
“If Christ be anything, He must be everything.”
“Ought we not to look upon our own history as being at least as full of God, as full of His goodness and of His truth, as much a proof of His faithfulness and veracity as the lives of any of the saints who have gone before?”
“Blessed are the waves that wash the mariner upon the rock of salvation.”
“Rejoice O my soul, that thou art spared to testify of the faithfulness of the Lord. The seasons change and thou changest; but thy Lord abides evermore the same and the streams of His love are as deep, as broad and as full as ever.”

there and back again...

Lack of easily accessible internet for a while has left this blog a bit neglected...but I'm back! Ok, so it’s cliché time so I should be saying things like: "It’s so hard to sum up what the last 2 months have been like...." blah blah blah. But, it is a wee bit true. 8 weeks of a glorious mix between the world of physio in a South African government hospital to the world of the Cape Town tourist. I definitely think it was the best way to capture the essence of the city (besides living there long term) - to not just be a tourist, but to rub shoulders with Capetonians from all communities via the hospital - whether that was the staff or my patients... I loved it! One thing - it was not was a “short term missions trip” and somehow a trip free from labels/definitions meant there was no agenda... I was unashamedly a tourist at times – flinging myself off the world’s highest bungee (amazing!), soaking in the sunshine where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans met, scrambling up the majestic Table Mountain etc, but I also could just live out life and faith with my friends and in the hospital. Not much different to here I guess, just a different context and culture.

So, South Africa? I could go back. Maybe. It did seem a bit like a pseudo-Africa to the one that I know and love, but I kept reminding myself that if I went to Morocco or Egypt it would feel just as foreign. I guess it was not what I knew, but that was maybe a good thing. I could talk about the stark divide between rich/poor, the political turmoil still rumbling resulting from a troubled history, the rainbow nation, the hiv/aids crisis on everyone’s doorstep, the hopes for 2010, the mixture of both divided and multiethnic vibrant churches, the stunning scenery... etc but to be honest, the question that I hate the most in relation to Nigeria has always been “what is it like?” so I’m not even going to try after only 2 months. Just go if you get a chance would be my only advice.

I’m “home” again... but I’m going “home” on Saturday for a month... (In Belfast, heading to Nigeria). Funny that. Sometimes I love having 2 homes. Sometimes I feel like neither is really home. Not sure if travel is always the best for finding a sense of belonging that I often long for, but alas... I still love it...

little dreamer

So based on stocki's review and youtube/myspace listening... Little Dreamer is my lastest purchase before I leave sunny Belfast on Friday. I'm in search of new summer music before I go. Anyone any other suggestions??
Check out Beth Rowley... I find it amusing that she started her life an mk :)