The last week has been kind of a blur really. I do remember three things distinctly though: lots of napping, lots of walking, lots of photographing — probably in that order.

Naps

I love Oxford, lots of character and beauty, with friendly people. I have to admit I haven’t explored it as well as I could have. I probably could have taken more chances to go out on my own and gain a general sense of the area. All that said, I have been quite content taking the time to rest and relax — I’m learning that life needn’t be a rush all the time and that when the opportunity arises to just relax, it’s worth it. These are times to rest and to reflect on what’s happened and look forward to what is coming.

Walking

Though I haven’t explored Oxford as much as I could have, doesn’t mean I haven’t been around town. My brother, Frank, has taken me so many places I can’t even count them, at least not on one hand. A big part of my napping epidemic has been on account of the walking. Frank and I go walking, we check out a couple of cool places, I think to myself I should come back with my camera, go home and promptly forget all of that and find myself beneath the covers. At some point I’ll hear foot steps and I’m sure to get up and pretend I just finished reading or doing something important that required my presence near the bed or sofa. Regardless, I do remember the actual act of walking, just having trouble remembering where and why. I’m sure it will all come back to me

Photography

An old habit of mine when in new places was to take my camera everywhere and take pictures of everything. I learned on my trip to New York a few years back that this was not enjoyable and became quite a drag. Carrying on this way results in my distaste for both photography and the location I’m shooting. So I find that if I only take my camera some of the time, and take lots of pictures I am able to have a good balance. But it also means that I miss a lot — and I’m comfortable with that. So when I am able I will be putting up a number of my photos, mind you, not all of them as I used to do, but enough. I probably won’t label them or anything like that, and it’s not that I don’t care, it’s just that it’s very time consuming.

Highlights, Etc.

Last week I took the time to lay out all the details of each day. I’m not really in the frame of mind to remember all those things, and I’m still terrible at keeping account of my days in journals or such. So here I will give you my highlights of the last week and various events that are boring in a timeline — also in no particular order.

• The Pub and Social Events — A few nights Frank and I have gone out with some of his friends for some good conversation, and even Ice Cream the odd time. It has been a thrill to enjoy company with such smart and good people.
• Rugby — James, Frank’s friend from Yale (who is also attending Oxford now) snuck out of a conference for a bit and we watched the Rugby match between England and Samoa on Saturday. It was crazy, I’m not quite sure how it works, but it was fun to watch; it was even better watching James’ reaction. England won! We hung out with James a little later in the evening after his conference and I enjoyed it. James is a very smart and funny dude.
• The Taps — I would have mentioned this last week, but found it hard to fit it in. In the majority of places I’ve been all the water runs through two separate faucets. One hot and one cold. I find this a bit annoying. Either you have scolding hot or glacial cold water running through the tap with no in between. It takes a special gift to turn on the hot, rinse, lather with soap and rinse right at the moment the hot water is warm and not scolding hot. I’m learning.
• Price as Marked — Something I wish more Canadian stores would pick up: the prices here have been set with the taxing in mind; though there is tax, you never see it in the price. The price you see is the price you pay, no additional mathematics. Love it! (Prices are insane though, but that’s another story)
• Cost of Discipleship — We picked up this awesome book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer at the library. Very good, and thought provoking!
• Bourne Ultimatum — I won’t ruin it for anyone, but I thought it was stellar.
• Holy Trinity Brompton — Went to church in London Sunday evening. Nicky Gumbel wasn’t speaking, but I saw him and met his son’s. It was really good. It was rather funny though, they were trying a new thing where their service had no chairs… I didn’t get to see much of London, but the plan is to go in tomorrow and tour around. We saw James again!

Keeping in Touch

I miss so many of you at home — I wish I could keep in contact with you all! Sometimes it does get a bit lonely so far away from home and when you guys send me an email or leave a message, it goes a long way — I will try and respond when ever I am able. Thank you all who have kept me in your thoughts and prayers, it means so much. I’ll try and keep everyone in the loop through the blog as much as possible, but if you have any questions just let me know.