one week... (plus a few days)

I have just over one week of work left. This is strange. It feels like I just arrived yesterday. I can still remember setting up my blog when I was in Austin, TX and Geneva was just an idea of a far away place. Now, I have one week left to finish. One week left to do what I will do. Then I will be back in Austin. While I could continue to work for WSCF as a volunteer it will be much harder and I'm not going to lie to them or myself and say that I will do things that I might do, but probably will be too busy to do.

I have one week left. It is a little daunting. I am currently doing the mail out for Fed News. Which means that today was spent folding newsletters and stuffing envelopes and tomorrow will be more of the same. However, it will feel good to be done. Hopefully, if you're on my mailing list you'll get a copy (plus a personalized note) mailed out next week.

Also, I am still trying to finish Student World -WSCF's ecumenical journal - but my finishing it is a BIG question and there is also questions about what will happen after I leave. We will see, I suppose.

One week. I still can't believe it. It will happen, though, and I will be back in Texas very soon.

This picture was taken when I was in Edinburgh, Scotland (not to be confused with Edinburg, TX) by my friend I was visiting. It's one of my favorites.

Jesus and Women

So today during work I was re-reading one of the articles that I will probably publish in the Centennial Edition of Student World. This article was written in 1924 (or 25) by a young Japanese woman. In this short, two page article, she explains why she believe that Jesus is the person after whom she wants to pattern her life. She gives three really great reasons - first, Jesus was a feminist, second, Jesus was grateful for what He had and He never worried, third, that Jesus had a vision for a new world and was not afraid to make it happen - even if this meant His death.

I am amazed that the Christianity being preached by the organization that I work for has not changed much in 90 years. In 1925 we were explaining the same message to people all over the world. I am amazed that this woman in Japan is now witnessing to me - a woman from the United States of the 21st Century. I often think that the Christianity I believe in is something new - or something that people didn't really get 90 years ago. I am proved wrong over and over again, yet I still forget this.

The thing that really, really strikes me about this article is that her very first reason (and she says it would have been enough by itself) for wanting to model her life after Jesus is that He never brushes women aside. He never tells women that they CANNOT do something simply because they are women. He never tells women that they must obey men in all situations. Twenty years before women were given the right to vote in her country this woman saw that Jesus viewed her just as important and just as worthy as any man.

I love that I am being taught about Jesus' values by people so far away from me both geographically and historically.

Working From Home

I took today as an opportunity to work from home. To some people this may sound like a fancy way of taking a day off and not calling it a vacation day. I can attest that this is not true. I did more work today than I could have done, had I stayed at the office. I spent this morning doing my application for the Blogging Specialist with Ecumenical Women. Although that was not technically work, I then started on my "work" for WSCF. I am still working the Centennial Edition of Student World. I read about 20 or 25 articles today. These are articles that I have selected and made photocopies of. Some were terribly interesting, others were just terrible. I am trying to take the 200 or so articles that I have picked out down to less than 20. It is hard task.

I did not really take a lunch break, as I read these articles while I ate today. I did not take a tea break. I did not spend time talking to colleagues. Although I have stopped my work for the moment, since I did not get everything done that I need today I am planning to spend tonight working on one last thing. I am preparing a funding application that is due while I will be out of the office. Working from home does have it's perks. I did not put on real clothes until I went downstairs to cook lunch at 1:30 pm. I could listen to my music while I read. I could lie in bed and read. I did not have to worry about anyone interupting me with another task. That is why I chose to work from home today. I needed the chance to really focus in a way that I cannot while I am at "work."

Tomorrow will be my last day at the Ecumenical Centre for an entire month. I am excited for my French class, but I am sad that I will not be able to see my friends and colleauges for a month.

Post 100!

I just realized that this is my 100th post. Perhaps I should do something special to mark it. Perhaps I should do something to remember it.

When I was a girl in elementary school, my school had a big celebration on the 100th day of classes. We would all get out of class and gather on the playground. We were supposed to bring in 100 of something. It was a competition, of sorts. The only rule was that all 100 had to fit in a sandwich sized ziploc bag. The one year I participated I thought I would win for sure. My idea was so creative, I was convinced no one had ever thought of it before. I sat there in Oklahoma, on the map of the United States that covered our cement playground, with my bag in my hand, waiting for them to call my name and announce that I was the winner. Of course that moment never came. I didn't win. The girls and boy that won were much more creative than I was. I brought 100 ziploc bags. I had squeezed 100 of them inside the other one. I thought it was the most creative idea. Much more creative than the 100 pennies I had brought the year before. I suppose I was not meant to win that competition.

I am remembering this, but I am also spending a lot of time learning about the past of the World Student Christian Federation. I spent Monday and Tuesday reading articles for consideration in the Centennial Edition of Student World. (This is our academic journal that is published annually) It was first published in 1908. 1908! I can't even imagine what it was like back then. I read about 30 articles from these journals. Many were clearly representing the values and ideas of their time. I didn't choose those articles. The articles I have chosen are the ones that still speak. The ones that seem alive. The ones that could have been written yesterday. Those are the articles I chose. The article from 1968 that describes the economic difficulties the Global South faces was so prophetic. I wish we had listened to her ideas instead of following the road that she saw us going down. The article I read from 1952 defending apartheid in South Africa was clearly racist, but couching the racism in such terms as allowing the African to "fully fulfill his racial potential." The terms that might be used today to support "non-racist" development policies. The article rebutting that said that if true Democracy was to develop in South Africa apartheid could not exist. Today we see that Democracy has overcome apartheid. (The effects of it are still very severe, but hopefully the people there are strong enough to continue down the road they have chosen.) I am so privileged that I get to spend my days reading some of the great writers in this journal.

I am so lucky.

Evian - like the water

On Saturday, one of my friends, who happens to have a car, suggested that we go somewhere. In our very prepared way we decided to go to Annecy. However, none of us thought about finding directions or even having a map. So, we decided to do the next best thing: just drive. We left about 3 in the afternoon, with the promise of rain from the weatherman, with no idea how to get to Annecy. As we left the house we saw a sign that said : Evian, this way. With that small sign our plans changed. We decide to go to Evian instead. As you may, or may not, know Evian water comes from a town in France on Lac Léman (Lake Geneva in English). We drove the 30 or so kilometres to Evian. (With a stop in a small French bakery for a baguette and a Swedish sandwich). The whole trip was rather beautiful. It is amazing to think that I can on a whim just decide to spend a Saturday afternoon driving around the French countryside.

We found the "source" of Evian water, we wandered around the small town a bit, had a picnic of the bread and cheese that we bought in a "fromagerie" that smelled of feet, as all good cheese shops should. We also sat in a small cafe and drank coffee and ate crepes. The weather, obligingly, was warm and sunny. (The weathermen were decidedly wrong, as they usually are here in Geneva. They had predicted a cold, rainy weekend. Instead, we had very warm weather with little to no rain. It was actually a gorgeous weekend.) Our spur of the moment tip to Evian was worth it.

As for work, I am still working on Student World. I am spending a lot of time going through old articles. Some of them are fascinating. Some are boring. Some are racist - although I am judging them by my very post-modern deconstructionist standard. Some are laughable. It is a joy to read these articles and see what people in my Federation thought so long ago. Very interesting.

Slow, Slow, Slow

This week is going very slowly. It is nice because I am not working at the break neck pace that I had been working last week. Although, somehow I feel slightly guilty about that. This week is also going by very slowly.

There is not much to tell about this week, so far. I have been working on Student World. I am enjoying reading old articles. For 2008 (yes, I do realize it is actually 2009) we are doing a centennial edition. Student World was first published in 1908. So this edition will be a collection of old articles. I am going through the old articles and that is interesting. I feel connected to the past in a very real way. I am also excited to be doing the work that I came here to do.

Centennial Anniversary

Yesterday I started the monumental task of the 2008 Student World. (Go look at our 2007 Student World). 2008 is the Centennial Anniversary of our first publication of Student World. I am humbled to work on a journal that is over 100 years old. Due to timing delays I will finish the 2008 Student World and then hopefully finish the 2009 Student World too. This means I will be doing a lot of editing and threatening deadlines and such. However, for 2008 we are taking articles from Old Student Worlds. I have the chance to look through these journals. During some of the 20th Century these journals were the ONLY Ecumenical journal. Many people have written in them. From Mahatma Ghandi to President Wilson. I am currently reading/re-typing an article written by Suzanne de Dietrich. She was an influential person in WSCF . The article is amazing. I am learning so much about what it means to be Ecumenical. This article was published in 1933. Yesterday, I read an article published in 1934 about the role of women in WSCF. It blew me away that in 1934 the WSCF was forward thinking enough to dedicate it's entire Student World to "Women Students." The article I read affirmed the role that women, even in the formation of the WSCF played. In the 1930's. I am loving looking at the old docments and reading what people wrote. These are not just any people - they are people that we still talk about about and still hear about today. They are the founding fathers and mothers of my organization as well as many other Ecumenical organizations. I am beginning to feel the presence of the history of an organization that is over 115 years old!

I also received a book from my father today. It is a collection of talks given by Joseph Matthews. He was an influential part of my parents life, and I suspect, even though I never met him, a part of my life as welll. I am excited to get started on that book.

Friends

From Pictures from Office Camera March 2009

Here is a photo of me hanging the Zimbabwean flag in Marlon's office.

From Pictures from Office Camera March 2009

Here is the finished product.

From First Pictures in Geneva

Here is a picture of me reading our publication Student World. At the bottom of the page are links to the PDF files for the most recent copies. They are a good read. I highly recommend checking it out.

I haven't heard yet about my housing situation. I'm still searching. It's Friday today and I am planning to go to a Chocolate Festival tomorrow. So I will definitely put up pictures from there.