jamie's wanderings

This summer we met and heard a musican named Alex Sampedro, I had heard this song before, but when I heard it live, I wept along with the rest of the audience. Below I will translate the song. El verano pasado, conocimos y escuchamos a un muisco se llama Alex Sampedro. Lo habia escuchado la cancion antes, pero cuando lo escuche en vivo, llore como el resto de publico. I have a bible that doesn't say anything A cruxifix that doesn't save A faith that is tired of mountains I have prayers with no focus And I have preached so many times in the valley of the dry bones  I have news, but no hearers I have people waiting for fish But my nets are broken The wine is vinegar and the bread has no taste The salt no longer is salty The church no longer goes out into the streets Their light is under a table and the virgin doesn't care The yeast is in the fridge and my armour is rusty I have silver and gold, but the lame do not dance. I h...

I have realized that this year I have written very little, but for me this has been an incredible year of wandering around the world and yet staying close to home at the same time. In just a little over a year, I've traveled to three separate countries in order to present my MA thesis, and have had it received quite positively. I didn't write about my time in Poland this year and I have a few memories I'd like to add to this blog. I traveled alone this time, as the two previous times I had either Liz or Andrew with me. I have traveled alone on various occasions, but this time was rather nerve wracking. My first country in which I didn't know any of the language all by myself since I have been married. I took the bus to Madrid, slept a bit in the airport and then off on the umpteenth Ryanair flight for this year. It took almost 4 hours by plane to get to Krakow, and then I walked tentatively to the train station, following signs and other travelers. You completely ...

Yesterday Andrew and I completed our third open water swim race this summer. The previous two, July in Salobrena, and August in Motril, were 1500 and 1600 meters respectively. We presumed this would be about the same, and instead according to our trainers gps, it was 2250m! With all the usual pre race nerves, we made our way down to La Herradura, one of my favorite beaches. If I could have a beach house in Spain, it would be there. The water is crystal clear, the beach super relaxed, lots of great little chiringuitos (beach restaurants) and lots of happy vibes. There were about 200 of us competing, lots of young people this time with lots of nervous energy. All of the sudden they called us all together, and BLEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHH, we were off. I probably sprinted too much in the beginning, and that was revealed to me as I kept going and going and going and going, and about halfway through I realized this race was a LOT LOT LOT longer than we had anticapated. It was a zig zag course, a...

This last year or so, I've realized, I'm an adrenaline freak. Not the bungie jumping, parachuting kind,but I'm more like the goosebumps kind. And I get goosebumps pretty easily. Give me a hug, take me out for coffee, let me ride my bike until WOW it's pretty cuz we live in the mountains, or ride my bike along a babbling river, or take me to a concert or read me a poem...or....I think you get the picture. But my favorite goosebumps have to do when I see transcendence. It's not too hard to do. Just go onto my rooftop terrace and watch the summer sun set into the dust of the Spanish desert. Take a bike ride along the river Genil.......and somehow, you get the goosebumply feeling that God is here, and we are not alone. I had that very experience this weekend. I was in great need of not just adrenaline, but God goosebumps. You see, I get all the normal ones on a regular basis,bike rides, running, swimming in the pool, reading a book, watching a movie..but those a e...

Hide me in the cleft of your rock...cries the Psalmist. I have never really understood the Psalm, until this weekend. Tomorrow, Andrew and I celebrate13 years as a married couple. What a journey! We began with laughter and joy and peace, and even though we have seen sorrow and tears, grief and pain, we still find laughter and joy and peace together. To escape the rat race, and a few other things, we strapped on backpacks, jumped on the scooter, and rode around the other side of the towering Sierra Nevada to a region called Las Alpujarras. We've been several times, but never to stay. This weekend however, Andrew founded us a hotel, booked it, and off we went. The sights, smells and feelings of riding up the mountain were incredible. Rosemary, jasmine, orange blossoms and more overwhelmed our noses, the teetering "barrancos" or cliffs and the warm, spring air was a delight as we went higher and higher. We ate hearty country food, potatoes that were definitely not ...

A new year. What better way to start a new year than with a wedding, and in of all places, Scotland. I had never been, and what a good excuse to see Jonny Henderson and Amy Ross married. I felt like I was on top of the world, and to use a word I usually detest, literally. The light was ethereal, the sun struggled to get much above the horizon, perhaps for only 6 hours a day, and that was up from the 5 and1/2 that it was at the shortest day of the year. As a result, the day felt like a continual golden hour, and I kicked myself for not taking Andrew's camera. I had to travel over 30 hours to get there, three planes, two trains, a shuttle bus, and an hour ride home from Edinburgh to the beautiful small town of St. Andrew's. The first two nights I bunked with Andrea and Amy as we crashed on makeshift mattresses in Jonny's apartment. I went for a brief run in their village and marveled at wet, green rolling hills with small houses and flats looking like they'd grown int...

This week is already passing by quickly, and if I don't get this down, I'll have forgotten all that's swirling in my mind. This month we celebrate several new minestones. First, I finished my MA WOOOHOO! So good to be done, but I'm already swamped in PHD work. We did stop to celebrate yesterday, driving up the mountain to eat with good friends, and talking for hours on end. It was good. This Saturday, we completed 9 years in Spain. How is that possible? But more on that in a second. And finally, this Monday will be Andrew's birthday. We are going to have a loud, obnoxious, so much fun the neighbors are jealous steak barbaque. Can't wait. But back to the 9 years in Spain. We are so grateful, so happy, and so amazed by how God has kept us here. How has He done it? by giving us an incredible community of insane friends, at church, at the gym, and now at the university and our students and of course, Triatomix, the triathlon team. All of these groups are i...

I woke up this morning thinking about a friend of mine, who wrote last night on her Facebook last night, "Sitting next to my brave sister." This sister has cancer. I started thinking about the word sit. It's not something we do much, or we do too much. Now, most of us work in front of computers, tablets, or desks, and we sit. Some studies show sitting too much is killing us. Google has bouncy balls and creative chairs to help computer programmers as they sit. I actually have a ton of pain sitting to long, and have to get out, walk, run, swim, cycle, stand on my head, or do something every day that I sit and study/read/write. But sitting with a friend, brother or sister, parent or any other loved one, that is something else. Sentarse is the verb for sit, Sentir is the verb for feel or emotion in Spanish, strangely enough, they are very similar in sound, which just one phoneme differenciating them. And I think, sometimes, they are close to one and the same. Job's ...

So as not to keep you, dear reader, in suspense, a short report on the Half Ironman I volunteered for a week ago.We had ten men in all that started and completed the race without any injuries other than sore muscles and lots of cramps, which is completely normal when you keep moving intensely for 7 hours or so. They are amazing, my heroes, and I got to see them at different points in the race. We started first below in the pantano (water reservoir) called Canales. They warmed up. lined up the HONK, the horn sounded and they were off. Beautifully off. It was like a piece of art. As they swam, we walked up a STEEP hill (where last year I felt like I almost died and realized I was too fat and started training much more in earnest) and stopped to take various pictures. Then the guys finished the run and started to walk up. We took a few pictures. This one is Juli, our team trainer as he runs up in 5th place after completing the 2.5 km swim. Below is a video of the whole race as the...

This weekend, almost 20 of my teammates from Triatomix  will complete either the Olympic or the Half Ironman in our backyard, the imposing Sierra Nevada. Today, 7 of them completed the Olympic, 1500 meters swimming, 40km cycling and 10 km running, most of which is completed above 1500 meters or more above sea level. Just standing up there watching them finish I feel the lack of oxygen and my legs complained of little pressure and felt quite swollen. This race is one of the most physically demanding in the world, and is incredible to watch, let alone participate in. I'm going to take pictures tomorrow with my husband, and with a bunch of the girlfriends/wives or other friends, hand out water at the halfway mark for the Half Ironman. They guys will already have swum 2.5 km, and cycled 93 km and run 11 km by the time they reach our water/fruit stand. They will have another 11 km to run before finally crossing the finish line. The men in our team (this time we have no women competi...

For Jody Portions of my thesis to wet your appetite. Perhaps what we spoke of yesterday will make more sense. Everyone else can listen in. :) Culturally, Shame in this paper is  defined within the context of Judeo Christian values but we can also see the values of the definition of shame within the Asian cultures to expand our understanding of shame, although it is obvious within the Spanish culture, there is a combination of both shame and guilt cultures. It would appear there is a combination of both due to Judeo Christian values as well as shame culture. This is why in the Med this looks differently than in the Middle East or the Asian world. It is a moral obligation and not a cultural obligation as in Asian cultures. It would appear from the literature that shame in the Med looks more like Shame in the Middle East as both major cultures have had a lot of cultural contact, linguistically, socially, culturally and even politically. We can see from the literature review in p...

I've written a lot lately about our journey to become triathletes, and I've realized that there are so many parellels to life as you work through things physically. Today, I'm laid up at home from church with a sprained ankle and a torn up knee, and I didn't even do those training! I merely slipped and fell walking with some girlfriends this week and boy has it hurt! I did two triathlons and hundreds of kms of training this year, and I hurt myself walking. Sigh. However, this has given me time to reflect and think and stop and be still, which is still a very important part of life, one that's really easy to bypass as we think "being productive" is the only way to do live. Last weekend I was in England with Andrew, and we went to our friend's ordination service. I'm not an Anglican, but I can very much appreciate its form and traditions, and staying power, even through the midst of war, crisis, plagues and you fill in the rest of the blanks. T...

This last Sunday we had another triathlon, a harder one in Almeria, on the very edge of the Almeria desert on the coast. The sea was choppy, and the distances were longer, and it was hot! The "sensations" were the same, nerves, anticapation, excitement...the transitions went well, but the swim wasn't very much fun, I didn't enjoy it it all. The feeling of being surrounded by so many people and the choppiness of the sea and too much sediment and algae made it for not so fun of a swim. I also had to run up 400 meters barefoot to get to the bike, that made it not so fun either. It was hot running, I almost passed out as I passed over the finish line. And I was last. The medic poured water over my head, and I almost felt human again. This time, our friends raced after us, and so they loudly cheered us on. I mean, loudly. I think one guy, Enrique was omnipresent. He was by the sea, the bikes and the finish line. Believe it or not, it was incredibly humbling to h...

I've had any number of people ask me about our first race in Sevilla, and I've promised some more details, so here they are for anyone who would like to know. Both Andrew and I returned from the US two years ago absolutly drained after watching his mom slip to the next life. I returned 10 days before Andrew, and my friend April realized it was not good for me to be alone. So one day, she dragged me out of my house and said, let's go sign up at the new gym. We had a wonderful time exploring the gym, going to the pool and jacuzzi and steam room and so I signed Andrew and I both up without telling him. I didn't tell him for weeks how much we were paying, becuase I knew how important it was for us to go. Two or three times a week, we'd find ourselves there and it really helped us through those first blurry months back in Spain. As we started to go, we realized that one of our friends from church, Julian was a trainer there. His wife Liz and I attended a bible stud...

It's holy week again. In our part of this world, it's a huge todo. Lots of floats, parades, processionals, people in the street, statues of virgin mary and jesus died, alive, tortured and crucified. It makes me sad because the Jesus I know, came into town not with music and fanfare and carried by 50 men, but on a donkey. The children cut off palm leaves and cried, Hosana! Which means, save us now. And the Jesus I knew was pulled in so many directions. They wanted him to save them from their political and economic crisis. They wanted bread and a new governement. He didn't deliever. Instead, he died a wretched death on a horrible instrument, and then suddenly, people said he rose from the dead. He had over 500 witnesses, and he didn't do huge massive miracles as a resurrected Jesus, he just appeared and ate bread and fish. I'm not here in Spain to convert people, I can't do that as a human being, only God changes men's hearts. But I am here to talk to pe...

First thoughts for my MA thesis. Emotion is a strong element in our perception of the world. It is difficult to ignore and harder to quantify. One of our strongest and most powerful motivating emotions is shame. Shame is the first emotion mentioned in the Bible, that has Adam and Eve realized their nakedness, they covered themselves out of shame. Wars and conflict and battle all have been fought over honor and shame. Strangely enough in this modern world, we neglect the existence of this most base emotion, and instead we often move blindly through our world motivated to protect our honor and compelled to the beat of its drum to always avoid shame.

Art by Jason Jack Soen-Photo by James Stickings

I wrote a note to a friend today, and thought this would make a good post. Edited for public viewing and expounded upon. Sometimes we think everything is supposed to happen instantly, work, job, cultural adapation, friends, family, etc, etc, and everying is limited to this thing we call time. Its awful, but something I've learned specficially when Andrew's mom passed away two years ago, that there is a time and place for everything. For us, there was a time of intense grief, and then a time of healing, but that doesn't mean that we still have grief and still need healing, but there are times and places for it all. Yesterday, I sat church, with my own grief. Grief of time lost. Grief of loss of relationships. Grief of saying goodbye to my aunt and uncle as they move onward to Cyprus. I stood and sat in church as I used to watch my uncle do, and let everything wash over me. When I first watched him, I wondered why, and yesterday, I completely understood. My collegues i...

Last year, I found myself in a new group of friends, triatheletes. They are a werid bunch I tell you. Working out 3-5 times a week for fun and then they go on 100 km bike rides over the weekends. Sheesh. And I wondered why. So last year, Andrew and I started to take their pictures. There is nothing more educational about a group of people than suddenly whipping out a camera. As they got used to us, we began to learn why they do this. I'll never forget the sensation of walking amoung the atheletes as they prepped for a half ironman or long distance race in the Sierra Nevada, the mountain that towers over Granada. You could feel the buzz of adreneline, and the excitement was palpable. We stood with Liz and Juli, the trainers of this club that are some of our best friends. Juli usually actively particapates, but this time, he was an organizer of the race, and so he was just an observer and a coach. As everyone got into the water, and stood there waiting for the minute warning, h...

I like teaching English.