All at Sea - with a bucket and spade!

Today I did sunday school. It’s not called that but that’s what it is really. Blokey called Phil did the story (which I actually really appreciated - more in a mo) and I did the crafty bit. I got the kiddly winks to draw/colour the individual nativity characters - Mary, Joseph, Jesus, Gabriel, couple of shepherds, three wise men/kings, some sheep and a star. You get the picture. Then we cut them out, laminated them, cut them out again and stuck a bit of embroidery thread through. Hey presto, tree decorations. Leah did a set here last night. Pictures of the one’s she made are here. I was really pleased with how the idea worked out practically.

Anyway, back to what Phil was saying. He was talking about Jesus as the Good Shepherd. His perspective was new to me and helped me to understand Psalm 23 a bit better. I liked the psalm already but…well, now I like it more.

When he lived in Israel (he went to Bible College there), he was once taken on a guided tour of the desert by a young shepherd. He walked with said Shepherd up the mountains. He explained how he experienced first hand the ‘right path’ that David talks about. He described the narrow paths that wind round and round the mountains and, on either side of the path, were steep inclines, rocks and fragile ground. If you stepped off the path, you very quickly landed yourself in big trouble. It was sometimes a long way down. The shepherd walked at the back with the complete flock walking in single file ahead of him (the paths really were pretty narrow). He (shepherdy bloke) spoke often to reassure the sheep at the front that he was there. If a sheep put a foot off the path, he called out and they moved back to safety. If they ignored the shepherd, he got a stone and threw it so it landed close to the sheep that was heading for danger and shocked the sheep so he jumped out of the way of the stone, again, back to safety. The shepherd carried a rod (big stick) to beat off any wild animals that threatened his flock and he carried a staff (another big stick with a hook on the end) to catch wandering sheep and pull them back to safety. (i.e. having already ignored the Shepherd’s voice and probably the thud of a rock crashing down by it’s feet)!

Now, I don’t much fancy having stones lobbed past my earhole or being dragged anywhere with a hook around my neck - for my own safety or not - but it kind of put the whole thing into perspective. This guy was determined that every single one of them was going to be safe by any means that he could. I liked that. It brought the whole ‘Good Shepherd’ comparison with Jesus to life. The odd stone? Crook round my neck occasionally? That’s fine. Just keep on keeping me safe!

It all made me feel a bit warm and fuzzy and I kind of echo David’s words ‘Your rod and staff they comfort me’ in a way that maybe I didn’t before.

Don’t know if the kids got much out of it but hey ho; I did

My tea - biscotti and panettini (light italian cake-bread with chocolate raisins)  Low fat, light, yet full of sugar. Perfect.

Emma with buttered croissant and hot chocolate (and my edible delights still unwrapped). Leah with two of her five a day in the form of an innocent smoothie. She also had a huge chocolate cupcake which she couldn’t finish.

A gentle stroll through Leamington Spa looking at the pretty Christmas lights (we like to walk in single file).

Window shopping (Mr Claus and friends, in The Doll House Shop window) and Emma and my big sister obviously enjoyed a sneaky game of hide and seek without me!

Look!

We went shopping yesterday for advent calendars. Happily, we managed to find what we wanted - good chocolate and cute picture. None of this ‘chocolate flavour pieces’ in our house thank you very much! Emma put them up. I’m thinking maybe mine’s the one on the left

Had fun seeing Leah yesterday. Played Boggle - by her rules Wrote poetry. Blogged here on Leah’s space.

She’s learning to touch type. Ten minutes a day. And she’s very disciplined and puts all the practice in. I’m very proud of Leah. Her parents have done a good job I think….. 

When she grows up she wants to be a vet.

Go read it here.

On Tuesday, it was raining a lot. I had to go to Uni. “Um”ed and “Ah”ed for a bit. But there was no getting away from it. I was going to have to wear the monstrosity that Emma bought me should I even need to cycle to Uni in the rain. The monstrosity I now like to call ‘the cloak of shame’!!

 I managed to get out of the house, on to the bike and down the road without being seen by the neighbours. Well not my knowledge anyway. All went well until I got to the end of the road and tried to indicate my intention to take a left. Did you even have those gloves when you were a kid, joined together by a piece of wool and fed through the arms of your coat. Presumably so didn’t quite lose them. Trouble is, the string was never quite long enough! If you tried to put your left hand in the air to wave, the right hand shot towards it, pulled by the not-quite-long-enough piece of string. Same when you tried to point. Or reach for somebody’s hand. Made you look like a right little idiot!

Well, a similar thing happened when I got to the end of my road on Tuesday afternoon. I began extending my left arm outwards and felt a pull on my right. I managed to get my arm a third of the way to the appropriate indicating position before I realised it just wasn’t happening. I would’ve had to turned the corner with one hand extended outwards and the other glued to my chest. It would’ve been the death of me!

Anyway, I made it to Uni in one piece physically but my pride was a little bruised in places. I don’t think anybody I know saw me frantically disrobing by the bike racks behind the library. I really hope not anyway!

By the way, thank you Emma. Top prezzie

Went to paperchase yesterday afternoon. For four english pounds you can have your very good self a pink flock Jesus or a turquoise flock Mary. I was tempted but managed to hold myself back. I did buy other stuff though. I bought Boggle, my all time favourite game. I love it. And a pair of magnetic bunnies that turn to each other to rub noses because there are little magnets inside. Aaaaaaaah.

These are the decorations that Emma has bought so far: A 4′ snowman and a miniature nativity set that is designed to hang on a miniature tree I presume. There were a packet of chocolate tree decorations aswell but they’ve gone away now And the fairy lights we have in the fireplace all year. We were looking at advent calendars yesterday too but couldn’t see any with good chocolate and a cute picture?!!!

Emma borrowed a sphygmomanometer and stethoscope from work so I could practice reading blood pressure. It’s surprisingly very very difficult. Mine’s quite strong. This proved a little unfortunate in the clinical skills lab this week. Lots of people wanted to try and listen for mine. I felt decidedly odd for several hours after the session. The skin on my face felt hot, dry and itchy and I could feel my pulse in my head and arms without putting my fingertips anywhere near an artery! On the upside, several people did read my pressure at 110/70 which pleased me. I don’t think that’s too bad

Unfortunately, I had no such luck with Charlie or Laura. Couldn’t hear a flippin’ thing. Hence, Emma borrowing the aforementioned items together with alcohol wipes (because Nina uses them on the video -yes I have subjected Emma to almost all of the skills videos) and she gave me free rein on her arms at several points today. No joy though. I can hear stuff but no distinct sounds. I was pretty ecstatic this afternoon though. I practiced on myself (as you do) and on about the third try I suddenly heard a distinct pwoosh type sound when the dial was at 110 and then my pulse which got fainter and fainter until it disappeared at about 70. Fantastic. The trouble is, if I do have to take a blood pressure for the clinical skills exam, I’m almost a hundred percent sure it won’t be my own!

This evening, in between the main x factor and the results show, Emma had a little play on Jeanette whose blood pressure came out at approx 115/70. Not bad. Nice to know your sister is unlikely to drop dead of a stroke or heart attack.

Oh and Emma bought me a fob watch from Argos. Sadly, this excited me greatly. I need to get out more!

Really interesting lecture today on race and racism, ethnicity and ethnocentricity. Lots of food for though and definately will be the topic of my essay. In the subsequent seminar, we watched parts 1-3 of A class divided. Fascinating 2 day experiment by a teacher, Jane Elliot, in smalltown Riceville,  Ohio, in 1968. Following the assassination of Martin Luther King, she taught her pupils the impact of discrimination by dividing them by eye colour and making one set superior and the other infererior. The next day she reversed it.

Not only did they learn lifelong lessons about discrimination, but interesting things happened to their abilities in spelling, numeracy and their general attitudes and behaviour when they were in the superior group and the inferior group. 

I’ve found the full set on youtube and will endeavour to watch 4 and 5 once I get home and have access to speakers.

If you have a few minutes to kill, I would really recommend them Part 1 is at the top and 5 at the bottom. 

Now watched parts 4 and 5 and they’re recordings of a training course given to adults. As they sign up for the workshop, they’re eye colour is noted and they’re split accordingly. Privaleges for the brown-eyed; discrimination for the blue-eyed. This lady is good. I don’t think many people could carry it off. To read a transcript of an intervoew with Jane Elliot, click here.