Durian

I had never heard of durian before studying here at GIAL. When I was here 3.5 years ago everyone who had worked in Malaysia, Indonesia, and some other Asian areas regularly debated the merits of this particular fruit. I was amused by the fact that everyone who had tried it seemed to have such fiercely held opinions about it and loved to either defend it, or denounce it. Any debate about durian regularly would reference its pungent aroma: per the Wikipedia article about durian "Some people regard the durian as having a pleasantly sweet fragrance; others find the aroma overpowering and revolting." *

My grammar professor worked in Malaysia for many years and loves durian, as does one of the students who works in the Philippines, and another student who is from Japan. So, it was decided that we would have a class trip to the quad outside of the main school building at the end of class. The point of this class trip was for everyone to try this exotic fruit.

It was fascinating to watch the process of opening a durian, I had never seen a fruit like this before.

I now have first-hand knowledge that there is a unique potency to durian's odor. Most importantly however, I now have tasted it and have an opinion on this fruit that evokes such strong feelings in others.

As a famous meerkat once said "slimy, yet satisfying." I will add that I wanted to be someone who could like durian, so I was trying hard to like it. I am not at all sad that there is no durian in Tanzania.

Wikipedia: Durian

Good Company

A month and a half ago I turned over a new leaf. I decided to start a discipline of writing a blog post each week. The goal is that I will be able to share more with you about my life and about the goings-on in the Mara cluster of Tanzania. I am at the beginning of two months that will test and try my resolution. If I make it through this time and remain faithful I believe that the trend will continue upon my return to Tanzania.

Why are the next two months the test?

Because I am taking six hours of graduate level courses during that time.

The first day of class I was assigned about 100 pages of reading that was to be done by the following day. This wasn’t light reading (like Jane Eyre, which I started reading upon my arrival in Dallas, Jane Eyre now looks out at me from my backpack asking me why I have been neglecting her). The readings for the classes are linguistic-y and technical, so 100 pages took many hours.

The classes that I am taking are Advanced Phonological Analysis and Advanced Grammatical Analysis. Despite the intensity of these courses and their advanced nature I am sure that God has been preparing me for this time. I have two primary reasons for thinking this way.

1. I am no longer a spring chicken!
I have real languages that I have been working with for the past few years. This means that when a concept is discussed in class I either have real world examples to turn to, or at least an understanding about how that could influence or affect the languages that I work with. Had I taken these classes 3 years ago, I wouldn’t have remember anything from them. I would have studied the information, memorized it for a test and promptly forgotten it. I will get so much more out of these classes and therefore be able to apply my newly acquired knowledge more readily upon my return to Musoma.

2. The professors are Wycliffe members.
During the lectures the professors point out the ways in which a translation of Scripture could be affected by the analysis of the linguistic features of the language. It is clear that all of this education is motivated by the desire to bring God’s Word to all the languages of the world. One of my professors worked in Peru with Wycliffe, while the other professor worked with Wycliffe in Malaysia.

I am in good company here.

*Please forgive me if my writing starts to sound technical - I'll blame my classes if that ends up happening. If my writing should start to have a flourish oft' associated with such novels as Jane Eyre, you may assume that I have been able to cease my neglect of said lady.

April 2014 Newsletter

Well, its that time again, a newsletter has been produced and is now available online! You can follow this link to an online PDF version of my newsletter: Found in Translation: April 2014

If you would like to receive an email when a new newsletter is available please let me know and I will add you to my distribution list.