Another link to the (same) pics -- and a short unprofessional video

And you can also see my pics at my new Flickr site --

Click the picture below

or use this link -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/vwiles/sets/72157600014985624/

Just playin' around... It's good rest. Tomorrow, back to work! vw

Arrival in Vancouver -- and Picture Blog link

I arrived in Vancouver, British Columbia, about 2 hours, or 20 hours depending on how you figure it, after I left Seoul. A long trip -- from Seoul to Tokyo to Portland to Vancouver. Airport security is random and certainly doesn't make me feel safe, just irritated. Oh well.

I've worked some on pictures and have loaded some at Yahoo. You can (I hope) see those, with captions (above the pictures in small print) by clicking HERE.


Hope this works!

It's rainy and cool in Vancouver. I'm here to attend two ATS meetings (that's the organization that accredits theological schools in USA and Canada) -- the Dean's meeting, which is appropriately called CAOS (for Chief Academic Officers Society) and the Women Administrators Retreat. I'll be all deaned up by the time I leave on Monday morning.

I should be back in NJ by Monday evening -- flying through Houston to get to Newark! Don't know if I'll have time to get any pics here in Vancouver.

If I have a chance--and can get a more stable internet connection here, I might try to record some of my impressions and reflections on my visits to South Africa and Korea. Otherwise, it'll just have to be verbal, when I return!

I'm in Korean!

Literally. This is the first chance I've had to do much of anything on the computer. I've signed on to my blogspot site and everything is in Korean! I can't read a word of it. Fortunately it's letting me type in English, so I'll see if it will post in English as well.

Dr. Lee has been working me to death! It's been a very, very good week, though, so I guess the hard work is accomplishing something. Here's a summary of our schedule for this past week --

• MONDAY -- I arrived, after flying from Capetown to Johannesburg to Hong Kong and then finally to Seoul. A VERY long trip! We had dinner with Rev. Sung Gon Lee when I arrived, and finally checked into the guesthouse at Yonsei University around 10:00 p.m.
  
  
• TUESDAY -- We spent the morning and afternoon at Seoul Jangshin University, where we attended chapel, had lunch with the faculty, and I lectured to a large body of the students (probably 200 or more). Dr. Lee translated and we had fun. I have no idea what he said, but they seemed to like whatever it was! Tuesday evening we had dinner with the pastor and elders of Saemoonan Church (a very large church--I believe it is the "mother church" that Horace Underwood started--if I remember correctly).
  
  
• WEDNESDAY -- We spent the morning and afternoon at Yonsei University (founded by Underwood). I lectured in the morning -- to doctoral students this time, all of whom were proficient enough in English so that I didn't need to be translated. They asked really tough questions! It was a very good event. Then we went to chapel and had lunch. Dr. Lee then lectured in the afternoon. In the late afternoon we met Mr. Il Young Yoo, who took us to the cemetery where the Underwoods are buried (and other Christian martyrs as well). The picture at the top of this post is of Joon and me at the cemetery. Then, that evening we had a marvelous dinner with Dr. Kyong Bae Min, a church historian.
  
  
• THURSDAY -- We spent the day at Janshin Presbyterian College and Theological Seminary, a seminary that many of our Korean students have attended. I lectured again, this time translated by a member of the Janshin faculty. Late in the afternoon, we left by train for Kwang Ju City (in the southern part of the peninsula, about 3-1/2 hours from Seoul) and had a delightful dinner with Dr. Cha, president of Honam Theological University and two faculty members there.
  
  
• FRIDAY -- I lectured at Honam Theological University; we met with faculty; and then we returned to Seoul. Friday evening we spent with the dean and faculty members from Torch Trinity Graduate School of Theology.



• SATURDAY -- Today:
  
  


• Finally, Dr. Lee gave me a day off! It was the first (and only) day that we've had to do a few "tourist-y" things. We went to a fabulous marketplace (Insadong) where I spent too much money and then to Gyeongbokgung Palace (the Palace of Shining Happiness), which was Taejo's residence and seat of power. He and his successors used it until 1592. The throne hall was rebuilt in 1867. I'll post one picture of the throne hall and one of the palace guards.
  
  
  
  

• Maybe I'll have time to post more pictures when I get to Vancouver...
  
• SUNDAY -- Tomorrow: I preach at the English service of Myung Sung Church in the afternoon and then at the Shin Sung Church Sunday evening.
  


• MONDAY -- Dr. Lee flies back to the States and I head to Vancouver. I'll try to blog again once I get settled in at Vancouver.

Missing you all!

Baboons, not Buffalo!

Just two babboons -- I saw a couple of families of babboons on my drive down to Cape Point. Lots of silly pictures...but I'll limit myself to just this one online.

Yesterday went well -- a lecture on hermeneutics in Prof. Liena Hoffman's class, and a paper on NT in the NT Seminar in the afternoon. They're working me hard!

I continue to make good contacts here and hope we can pursue future relationships for the Seminary. Gotta run do another lecture now! Probably won't be able to post anything else until I get to Korea -- from sunny South Africa to a cooler Korea?

Warm South Africa

It's Wednesday morning here in South Africa, and everyone at home is surely fast asleep. I arrived in Capetown at 6:00 a.m. SA time on Sunday, checked into my room in Stellenbosch by 11:00 a.m. and then slept for a couple of hours before meeting Liena Hoffman, the administrator for the theology faculty at Stellenbosch University. Monday morning I spent 2-3 hours at the university, meeting most of the theology faculty and getting oriented to the place. Then, slept and worked Monday afternoon, and went to a faculty dinner Monday night. Yesterday morning I was ferried about in order to get my computer set up to run on the university's system and to rent a car.

Yesterday I drove (on the left side of the road -- without killing anyone!) into Capetown and tried go to Robben Island (where Mandela and many others were imprisoned during the Apartheid years), but it was too windy and so they weren't open for tours. The clouds were covering table mountain (the "tablecloth"--as they call the clouds), so I couldn't do that either! I wandered around the Waterfront a bit, then drove down to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. Got LOTS of experience driving! And the landscape and seascape was amazing. I'll see if I can figure out how to post a picture or two. But that won't be until tomorrow at the earliest.

Already I have had wonderful conversations with folks here. The faculty is very engaging. I especially warmed to the Dean here, Elna Mouton--She's a lively woman! And a NT scholar who has been dean for 2 years, so there's much for us to talk about. Obviously, conversations about race and theology are particularly potent, and interesting. How clearly one sees the reality that race is socially constructed. Here in South Africa, there are only these official races -- African (black), colored (mixed racial), white, and Asian. Everyone is "assigned" to a race, and this creates odd categories. For example, a Jew is "white," but an Arab is "black." Hispanics? White, I suppose. The artificiality of it all is striking--and sheds light on our own American nonsense as well. Much to learn! And, with the dismantling of Apartheid such a recent occurrence, it's a topic that is, in some ways, easier to talk about here than at home--not that it's any less inflammatory, but it's so unavoidable.

I was hoping to go to the University of Fort Hare on Sunday through today, but that fell through. The UFH is the oldest African tertiary (college) school in SA, the alma mater of Stephen Biko and Nelson Mandela. It's about 1000 km away from Stellenbosch, and I was looking forward to the drive and all the sights--Elephants and all--along the way. Already I see that I will have to make a return trip, and allow much more time. Sabbatical perhaps???

I will start "work" in earnest today at the Theologie Fakultie (well, I tried to spell it right, who knows??). Here's my schedule for Wednesday and Thursday --

WEDNESDAY
12:00 noon Lecture in Liena Hoffman's Intro to NT class (freshman and sophmores)
1:00 p.m. Lunch with NT faculty
2:00 p.m. NT Seminar -- faculty and grad students -- I will give a paper and then have some time for discussion -- about 2 hours

I hope to be able to go on a tour of a local township after the seminar.

THURSDAY
11:00 a.m. Lecture in Jeremy Punt's Pauline Epistles class (Juniors and seniors) -- 2 hours
1:00 p.m. Lunch with the candidates I will be interviewing
4:00 p.m. Web-cam interviews with each of the two candidates -- 9:00 a.m. EST time
6:00 p.m. More time one-on-one with the candidates

I haven't decided yet where I will roam on Friday and Saturday -- but will let you know!
The weather is exquisite -- high 70's and low 80's, with cool evenings. Not a cloud in the sky today. I'll check back in here by tomorrow evening I hope, and perhaps have a picture or two! Now -- wish me luck (and all the other drivers on the road) as I "drive left, look right."