December doings

Did you have time to flick through the graduation album on the previous post? It's full of cheeriness, so if you need a bit of that in December, I recommend it. And talking about cheerful sights....

 

After graduation I went to Hong Kong for 10 days for a break and met up with cousin David. First time for 15 months to see family in the flesh as opposed to through Skype (they look pasty and aren't eating enough fish...) and I'm grateful to David for lugging back a suitcase full of Christmas presents to post for me in the UK! We stayed in walking distance from the harbour and enjoyed the peak tram, the Po Lin monastery and the Ngong Ping cable car among other delights.
 

 

 

We also heeded wise words on the metro....  

 

The residential College closes officially from 16 Dec to 6 January. A number of families have already left. Some are fortunate enough to go back to home places for holidays if finances and Church permissions allow. Some stay. So we're a reduced but jolly crew. The few Faculty who are around take turns to be Acting Principal and it's my week of unbridled power at the moment. So far this has included a worrying amount of cheque signing - though I'm assured that as soon as the dosh comes in it needs to go out somewhere, and I can see that's true. It's pretty hand to mouth. Unexpected sparks up a pole fizzed and crackled last Sunday leaving some houses, including where I stay, without power and it's a pain to get it fixed at the weekend. One day without electricity isn't a massive deal. It just so happened though, that 40 plus people from the Nanuku Congregation were coming carol singing around the campus that evening with food and fellowship at House 12 (Ogden residence) afterwards. Mmmm, I thought. No light or power. That'll be interesting. I consulted the stewards. 'Oh - we'll just take our plates down to the sea wall and have a picnic - they've got light there!' Good plan. And actually, if you walk a little further down the sea front to Suva Park, it's got lights and trees agogo, (c/o the ever-present Vodafone). With carols from local choirs most nights. See below....

 

 

In the end, my resourceful neighbour persuaded the Powerwise men to do something clever with wires, and behold there was light at 6.00pm and a mass of carol singers descended on House 12, not by candlelight.

 

Distance learning continues to have a life of its own and the assignments still roll in having little respect for the holidays. Quite right too. Also the 're-do's' as we call them: resubmitted work, some as a result of genuine and appreciable struggles, and some  because people who should know better were just messing about. What are the chances of 2016 being the year we conquer poor academic practice and plagiarism? I'll let you know next December!

 

I'll be getting the latest BD courses on the shelf over Dec and Jan: Biblical Exegesis awaits editing and Academic Skills needs fresh work. But it can be fulfilling doing that sort of work minus the restrictions of the Semester timetable, and in such glorious surroundings. Christmas services and celebrations will be in the Dudley Circuit and at Nanuku congregations.

 

If you've been following the Climate change discussions COP21-Paris 2015 #COP21, so have we, as you might well imagine. Our students from Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Solomon Islands etc live these realities. We pray for the 12 December agreement to be translated into committed action. Mr Samuel Manetoali, Minister of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meterology of the Solomon Islands has been much quoted.

“Climate change is a man-made problem and can be addressed, here in Paris. We are the last generation that will be remembered to guarantee humanity’s survival. We have one shot at getting it right. Let us not fail our people and the future of humanity.”

Not a bad Christmas message.

If we're in gmail contact, there'll be a Christmas e-card coming your way. Here it is for blog readers too, with my love. Grace and peace for now and the New Year.