Whew, what a quarter! Finished up, exhausted, a week ago today. I had two finals last Tuesday, one in Hebrew and one in Hebrew Bible. Turned in a 17-page paper for Romans 5 days before that. The Hebrew final was a breeze...I am averaging about 105% in that class. It's a little hard to tell if I'm just good at it, or the quizzes are easy...I think it's a little of both.
Now, the Bible final was two solid hours of writing. 8 scripture IDs, 8 Map IDs, 14 short answer (from a list of about 125 terms), and 2 in-class essays (from a list of six possible questions). My arm is still sore from writing, but I think I did well. The mid-term was exactly the same, except the essays were take-home (my preference, but oh well). The prof. really wants "liberal" Christians to know their Bible, and if you don't after this class, well, you just weren't trying very hard. A great, tough, class.
Thanksgiving was lovely. We had a huge meal with TheologyBabe and her gal...so much food for four people! Yikes. But we had a great time cooking together, eating, and playing with their puppy.
Since winter break started, I've been catching up on my sleep and getting ready to go to Mexico (I leave on Thursday). Iliff is sponsoring a 10-day immersion course in Cuernavaca as a liberation-theology based "ethical praxis" -- that is, understanding ethics and theology in a "third-world" (a phrase I hate, actually) context. A friend of mine told me that I could teach the class, but I'm just happy to get back to Latin America after a long (too long) hiatus. The itinerary is incredible: We'll be meeting with university professors, community and church leaders, Zapatistas, and indigenous leaders to discuss economics, immigration, globalization, gender issues, politics, and more. We'll be visiting community co-ops, indigenous communities, and ruins, and we'll go to mass at the Basilica of La Virgen de Guadalupe. All in 10 fun-filled days! I'm so excited.
We've also been catching up on our movie-watching. We've seen three in three days, and I can recommend them all: The Queen (Helen Mirren for an Oscar, you wait and see); Stranger Than Fiction (Will Ferrell being very un-Will Farrell, and Emma Thompson [really, what more do you need than Emma?]); and Shut Up and Sing, a documentary about the Dixie Chicks and the fallout from Natalie Maines' "I'm embarrassed Bush is from Texas" remark in 2003 -- great music, greatly embarrassing examples of American stupidity, and great courage. After you see it, go buy the album -- give them your support, y'all! They need it, and they deserve it.
Well, I guess that's all the news from Sunshine City...y'all be good while I'm in Mexico, okay?
