Below is the busy roundabout near our house. On Thursday, we drove by it early in the day but couldn't stop to take photos. When we returned about 4 p.m., the sun wasn't in a great spot for taking photos, but I got out of the car to see if I could capture some of the flowers in the sunlight. Someone else had the same idea.
This building pictured below houses the Presbyterian seminary, although they don't use the word seminary here, so perhaps I should say the place where people train to become Presbyterian ministers. I'll be teaching there as an adjunct faculty member in 2008, and I'm really pleased to have that opportunity.
When we first arrived, we were so amazed by the building pictured below, which is visible from many places in the town because it's set on the side of the hill behind the downtown area. It is the Otago Boys High School. Seems llike they should have filmed Harry Potter here. No signs of spring in this photo, but I wanted to post it because it's such an amazing building. A note about the word "Otago." It's the name of the province Dunedin is in, the name of the University where I teach, the name of the Harbor, the name of the Peninsula, etc. It is an anglicized version of the name of a Maori village on the Otago Peninsula, Otakou, which was a whaling outpost for the early European settlers in the 1840s. That raises another issue to comment on. Because of spending alot of my childhood in Europe, I am used to thinking of the United States as a young country. New Zealand is much younger, with Maori arriving in N.Z. from Polynesia in several waves between 800 and 1300, and settlements by Europeans beginning mostly in the early 19th century. Europeans settled in Dunedin in 1848, simliar to Seattle's date of 1851, but Seattle is a young city in the U.S., while Dunedin is an old city in N.Z.
1 comment:
Dear Lynne,
I am writing to you because I have just taught a ten week course on Sabbath at Westminster Chapel, Bellevue, WA, and have had the pleasure of regularly dipping into and referring to your book and workbook on the subject.
I am a New Zealander currently living in Seattle where my husband, Dave, works in the IT consultancy business. Having been until quite recently a high school French teacher and provider of professional development to in-service teachers in New Zealand, I find myself currently supporting Westminster's Pastor of Adult Education on a voluntary basis.
I don't usually write to writers whose books I have enjoyed, however, when I read your blurb on the cover of Sabbath, the Gift of Rest, I knew I had to write. I discovered that you are from Seattle and now teaching at the University of Otago.
All our children (5 of them) remain in New Zealand, mainly in Auckland, where we will return in about two years time, but our oldest, Heidi, is married with three children and lives in Dunedin. She works at Otago University part time in IT support and her father-in-law is a professor of chemistry there. Her husband, David, teaches massage therapy at the Polytec.
Having found your books so helful for my course, and the links between Seattle and Dunedin so surprising, I felt I needed to make contact, introduce myself and thank you for the blessing of your writing.
It appears from your blog that you are enjoying your stay. God bless you in your teaching and writing ministry.
Kind regards,
Anne
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