Classes and Thanksgiving

I know I mentioned all the classes I am in already, but I figured I could take this time to write a little more about each one…since they seem to be consuming my mind lately. I have a big paper due in each one next week, and I am just taking a break from working on them to write this.

Reading the New Testament in Africa

We just had the last class of this today. I enjoyed this class, especially when we neared the end of the semester and talked more about actual African interpretations of Scripture. For this final I have to do a project, and it will be a summary of different passages and their interpretations from an African viewpoint, and then discussing how those views differ from our Western perspective.

Faith and Action

This was our main class that everyone had to take. We read sweet books and discussed them. These were The Primal Vision, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, Compassion, and Mere Discipleship. It seems like we read a lot more, but I guess not. I guess we had to read The Poisonwood Bible before we came, so that counted too. I enjoyed this class, and I guess will continue to enjoy it because it goes another week. And the final week we are here we’re having electives that we can attend, which are ‘Practicalities of Simple Living’, ‘Calling’, and ‘Politics and Peace’. That should be a good time. It also was the class that they hand out mail and packages in, so we enjoyed it. For this final I just have to essentially write out what has affected me, and kind of how my life and the way I live will be different when I go home. Telos (what our purpose in life is) and praxis (how we live our lives) are big words in this class. We talk about them a lot.

One component of Faith and Action was Contemporary Issues Seminar, where we met Wednesday afternoons and talked about different issues that are relevant to Uganda today. These issues included development, HIV/AIDS, poverty, the environment, and politics, plus some others. It was always pretty interesting discussion.

IMME Practicum

All of us who are in the Intercultural Ministry and Missions Emphasis (IMME) had a class too. Part of our class work was to get involved in our communities. I attended things with my family, I helped cook on occasion, and I colored with the little boys in my house. IMME also went on weekend trips, we had dinners with missionaries, and just talked a lot about missions. I also enjoyed this class, and felt like I learned some practical things, which is always nice. For this final I have to write a personal reflection paper on where I may see my life heading. Fun.

African Literature

This was a pretty awesome class. We had an African professor, and he was one funny man. We read a lot of novels, which were interesting, and this is how class usually went: We’d go on Monday, and the majority of the people would not have read. Those who had read went to the front and gave their initial opinions. We clapped for them. Then he’d let us out early so we could go finish the reading. Thursday we’d come for our two hour class, and divide into groups and discuss the characters, themes, and narrative techniques. For about an hour. Most groups finished in maybe 15 minutes. Then the groups would present and we’d clap for them, then we’d leave. Our professor liked to clap. He’s great. This ‘final’ is just another paper that compares two novels.

African Traditional Religions

This is the class that I struggled with the most…just motivation to go, and to care about it. Sometimes it was hard to understand the professor, and there was so much reading for each day. We went on some field trips to a martyr’s shrine and to a Muslim school. Our final paper is talking about the integration of ATR, Islam, and Christianity. It’ll be my least favorite.

So those are my classes. It’s weird that they are almost all done.


Also…I was going to add something about the IMMe group in my blog, but luckily I checked Hanna’s before writing it, so check out hers. Most of my sentiments are the same. It at least gives an account of the weekend in Rakai. And has some group photos.

http://hannaabroad.blogspot.com/

Tonight for Thanksgiving we are having a big meal. Hanna and I made scotcharoos and puppy chow. Yum and yum. Before we eat we’re going to play an American style football game (although it is gearing up to rain pretty soon).
Sunday I’m going to play in a Frisbee tournament.
Next weekend is the safari!
Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! :)