Travels

On Language and Friendship

2011-11-24T06:00:00.002-06:00

I'm getting divorced. So is my wife. We have some friends in common as you would expect after 36 years of marriage. Some of them are more in touch with Janis than with me -- most of them, really. I got this e-mail from one of our friends (the wife of the friend-couple):

Perhaps Janis told you that she has let us know that you would like a divorce. The only explanation she has shared is that you want "emotional intimacy", but not with her. We are looking forward to her visit in January, and extended time talking about anything & everything that she wants to share & offering our support to a dear friend.

This is incredibly confusing...we regard both of you as friends, and don't want to form an opinion of you without first hearing from you, if you would like to share with us what has brought you to this life-changing decision. We will be sharing what we know with our kids on Thursday, and are hopeful we'll be able to present everything fairly about this situation, as you were a couple that they probably held as a model for marriage.

The language this friend used was striking to me. Especially these phrases:

"don't want to form an opinion of you"
"sharing what we know with our kids .... present everything fairly"

OK, I admit that it's difficult to hit exactly the right emotional tone in an e-mail, but the tone of this message was challenging rather than supporting. I felt as though I'm on trial and being given a chance to take the stand in my own defense before being judged around the table on Thanksgiving by this family.

Absent from this communication were phrases such as

"we love you both"
"there are two sides to every story and we'd love to hear yours"
"divorce is hard for everyone: how can we support you"
"this is really none of our business and we certainly aren't going to discuss this with our kids, but we just want to understand your point of view"

So I declined the opportunity to take the stand. Oh, yes, and I unfriended her and put a rule in my inbox to delete future messages from her. There! That'll show her to mess with me! Immature reaction? Probably.

Let them think what they want about me. If who I've been with them during the few years we lived in the same town and now over the past 20 years since haven't given them enough evidence to form an opinion of me, then my words in an e-mail aren't going to help.

Lesson here? It's hard not to take sides. Think about what you're writing before you press "send." Since there are few emotional cues in an e-mail, you have to spell them out in writing -- say what the feelings are -- if you don't want to be misunderstood on an emotional topic.

So taking my own advice: my emotions in this: hurt and angry. Oh, that was obvious from what I wrote? Well sometimes you can communicate your emotions effectively in writing.

Leaving Dingle -- August 15th

2011-08-15T02:46:00.002-05:00

The Pax House just east (1 km) of Dingle has been a perfect place to spend our 5 days here. The main two reasons for that are the outstanding service and friendliness of the staff (John O'Farrell, the owner, and the 3 other staff) plus the large lounge with panoramic view of Dingle harbor. This room has been our place to read, blog, e-mail, and chat either during the morning before breakfast or evening or during the frequent rainy periods when it was better to be inside that out.

We arrived in the rain on Wednesday evening and did not venture out into town that night. On Thursday it was cloudy but not rainy and so we ventured into town and explored the shops in the morning and then drove the Slea Head Drive, which is a narrow winding road around the peninsula offering several great vistas of the coast as well as some interesting shops. We woke up to a steady rain on Friday and after breakfast sat in the lounge until 4 in the afternoon when it cleared up enough to go into town. On Saturday we visited Dingle Horseriding and Janis went on the 2-hour ride, which included a visit to the sandy beach in Dingle Harbor where they were allowed to gallop the horses by the surf. (I'm sure this is the highlight of the trip for her.) On Sunday we hiked up to the Eask Tower, which stands at the top of the hill overlooking Dingle Bay, pointing the way to the mouth of the harbor.

Breakfast has been amazing here -- I've tried the Irish Breakfast, boiled eggs (4 minutes -- a bit too done), omelet, and the oatmeal, served with Bailey's Irish Creme. All great. Next time I'll share a bit about the dinners in Dingle.

Dingle -- Arriving August 10

2011-08-11T10:49:00.007-05:00

On Wednesday, the 10th, we had another fabulous breakfast at Garnish House. I didn't mention in it the prior post, but the Garnish House sign indicates "gourmet breakfast," and that is no exaggeration. The signature dish is their porridge which comes with a choice of honey, whiskey, or Bailey's Irish cream. I had it with the latter and it was great! I followed it up with eggs (scrambled the first day, poached the second), bacon, and potato waffle.

We drove the 5 miles to Blarney to see the Blarney Castle grounds. The big draw is the Blarney Stone, at the top of the castle, but the castle itself is impressive and grounds are extensive and well-kept. Janis was fascinated with the poison garden and I thought the walk through the Rock Close was very nice. Also not to be missed in Blarney is a great store, Blarney Woolen Mills -- it has everything, and lots of it, besides woolen items. We ate at a pub just across from the store. I had a baked potato (served with "chips" = french fries -- seemed weird, but everything, just about came with chips). Also had a nice pint of Smithwicke's (say 'Smiticks') and Janis, as usual declined brew in favor of wine.

Then we drove to Dingle.

Sounds simple, but there were a couple of complications. First, we decided to stay on the main roads, so that meant driving back through Cork. The main roads are just roads when they go through the city, so that meant lots of traffic. But eventually we got out of Cork and on the way to Tralee, which is the junction you must aim for on the way to Dingle. There were two places where road construction stopped us due to one-way traffic, so we didn't get to Tralee until about 6 -- the end of normal check-in time at our B&B, Pax House in Dingle. But a quick call to the proprietor, John O'Farrell, assured us that our lateness would not be a problem.

It rained on and off all during our trip and quite heavy at times, including between Tralee and Dingle. This was the other complication, as the road became quite narrow in spots, and quite twisty and this combination hit Janis' phobia for rainy driving on curves rather severely. Had there been another brake pedal for her on the passenger side, we would have come to a screeching halt about 58 times.

We eventually made it to Pax House and received a warm, though rainy welcome from John.

As the weather remained wet and we weren't so very hungry, we decided to stay rather than venture out for dinner.

This morning we made it up (our room is downstairs) for breakfast around 9:00 -- the dining room was only half full and so we got our table right away. The breakfast here is similar to that at Garnish house. I'd say the scones were not quite as good as at Garnish House, but otherwise it was about equal. They offer oatmeal with the same choice of 3 toppings, though I didn't try it today. I did have a ham and cheese omelet, which was quite good. While waiting for the main dish, one can choose from various cold cereals, fruit, including poached rhubarb, which we tried.

We spent the morning poking around in the shops in Dingle. Then we got some snacks and started on the "Slea Head Drive," which follows the road, quite close to the coast at several points, with striking vistas and several points to stop along the way to look at the ocean or other points of interest. This drive took us 2 hours, including the stops.

Back at Pax House we're resting before going back into town for dinner.

Dublin to Kilkenney to Cork -- Aug 7-9

2011-08-09T15:43:00.003-05:00

Travels in Ireland continue. On Sunday morning (8/7) we took a taxi from the Westin in downtown Dublin to the Hertz rental office about 15 euros away. There was a line (queue) that took 1 full hour to get through. But then I got the car (Nissan Pixo) and a basic map showing how to get from the Hertz office onto the highway leading the right way and off we went.

Honestly, it's weird sitting on the right side of the car, shifting left-handed, and driving on the left side of the road. To complicate matters Ireland does not believe in intersections. Where roads cross there is a "roundabout" or traffic circle. You go around these clockwise, which isn't that hard to remember because everyone else is going that way, too. The hardest thing for me initially was to judge the distance from the left side of the car to the curb. I'm afraid I hit two curbs, one in a roundabout and one in the little town of Thomastown which we had to go through to get to our B&B on Sunday. The second one bent the hub and damaged the hubcap, though it did not cause a flat. We'll be paying for that at the trip's end. We got the super-expensive insurance, but even that does not cover hubs, wheels, and tires. Eventually I've gotten where I can keep the car in the center of the lane. And that is not easy on some of these rural roads because the vegetation grows right up to the road and is trimmed like a hedge. It's like driving in a tunnel with no top, but with vertical green sides. And then the lanes get very narrow and the roads are curvy in a lot of the rural areas, so that going 50 km/h (about 30) is too fast for me and even that slow speed gives Janis queasy stomach in these scary places. Be that as it may, we haven't had any other incidents after the curb crashing and I'm feeling a bit more confident each day.

Our B&B for Sunday night was the Ballyduff House south of Thomastown. We stopped in Thomastown for a late lunch and the cafe-keeper was good enough to give us directions. Following them was harrowing as the road was steep, narrow and twisting and when we got to the place we thought was it, there as a long drive through a gate, and no sign. I expected some kind of sign. But we drove in and sure enough it was the right place.

Ballyduff House is a huge country home that has been in Brede's husband's family for many years. We didn't get to explore the grounds, but we did enjoy the stay. We drove up the horribly twisty, narrow R700 through Thomastown to Kilkenney for dinner. We didn't hit any more curbs or anything else. To make matters worse it was rainy and Janis has a phobia for driving on wet roads, so she was a nervous wreck by the time we got to Kilkenney -- and I was, too. We ate at a pub in Kilkenney and then survived the ride back to Ballyduff House.

Monday morning we drove back to Kilkenney and saw the castle there. Then we struck out for Cork. Driving on the main highways in Ireland is easy. These roads are well-maintained, with wide lanes and everything is well-marked. Driving on the left doesn't seem that weird after a while, especially when the on-coming traffic is across a grassy median. When they're coming right at you on a two lane road and passing on your right side, it takes some getting used to.

So we didn't have any trouble getting to Cork. But once there we did have a bit of an adventure finding our B&B. First of all we only had a street, not a number. Second of all, Cork's streets pre-date the automobile by several hundred years, so some of them are very narrow. We stopped at a gas station and bought a map of the city and asked the counter guy to point out our current location. Then we plotted a course to get from there to the street of our B&B. The main trouble in cities like this is not knowing where you want to go, but knowing where you are at the moment. Street signs do not exist. At least not like we're used to. If a street has a sign, it's going to be on a building on the street at the corner. But don't count on there being one when you need one. But with Janis navigating and me driving, we finally found Western Avenue and started looking for our B&B. We drove slowly down the street looking at each sign and didn't see it. At the end of the block, the street went to one-way opposing us, so we had to turn. We decided to park and walk back looking for it. We finally stopped and asked for directions. Turns out our B&B is in the next block just at the beginning of the one-way section. So we got in the car and drove around the block and pulled into the Garnish House parking area in front of the building.

We were rewarded with a wonderful reception of coffee and scones in the garden. They bake all their own pastries here and do a great job of it. We did a lot of walking around Cork last night, including the beautiful grounds of the University College Cork which is just across the street from The Garnish House.

The pubs don't generally serve food in the evenings, so last night we grabbed some fried chicken and fries before heading over to the Rob Roy pub on Cook Street where there was a session of traditional Irish music at 9:00 or so. I tried one of the two local stouts, Beamish, at the pub and found it very smooth and tasty. (The other one, Murphy's, I had tonight and it as just as good.)

Today we drove down to Kinsale. It was pretty packed with tourists, but still charming. We browsed a few shops and then drove up to Charles Fort and toured the 12 acre grounds of the fort and found it very educational.

Pictures will follow. Or will be posted to Picassa.

Thursday and Friday in Ireland -- August 4-5

2011-08-05T14:25:00.005-05:00

We got to Ireland about 10:30 AM Thursday after an overnight flight from Atlanta. Flight, arrival, baggage all went fine. Slept a little on the flight.

We got to our hotel, the Westin Dublin, via bus for 6 euros each. We going to take a taxi, but the bus was right there and went near the hotel and

the driver was helpful pointed the way to the hotel for us. Even though check-in is not officially until 3 and we got there at noon, reception said our room w

as ready and so no problem with us going up.

We really had not choice but to take brief naps before doing anything else. We slept until about 2 and then headed out to explore. The Westin is right downtown, next to Trinity College. We wandered up Grafton street, which is essentially a pedestrian mall. It was packed. From the Starbucks, which is above a clothing store, we people-watched, including the bron

zed "statues" which were actually two actors.

At the end of Grafton street is St. Stephen Green Park, which was packed on this warm, sunny day. We were promised highs in the 60s, but Thursday was in the mid 70s or more. Very nice, and we definitely didn't need a sweater or jacket.

We then took the train to the station I remembered was close to the RDS (Royal Dublin Society, location of the horse show) so that on Friday we'd know where we were going. The station I remembered was the one that was a ways from the grounds so we ended up walking quite a distance and had to ask directions a few times. But we did find it, looked around and then walked back to the station and rode back to town.

Thursday night we ate at O'Neils Pub. Fish and Chips and Smithwicke for me and wine for

Janis.

Today was spent at the horse show. Mostly jumping. The afternoon was entirely taken up with an International Jumping competition between 8 teams (Ireland, England, Germany, USA, Belgium, France, Netherlands, and Denmark). England took first, then England. France and Belgium tied for 3rd and USA took 5th.

Ireland

2011-08-02T07:24:00.002-05:00

Janis and I are headed to Ireland tomorrow. We've been planning this trip for some time. We arrive in Dublin Thursday morning and will take the day to acclimate and see some sights. Then on Friday is to the Dublin Horse Show. On Saturday night we have booked a musical pub crawl, starting at Oliver St John Gogartys. On Sunday we rent a car and prepare to drive on the left to Kilkenney.

One night in a B&B in Thomastown, outside Kilkenney, then to Cork for 2 nights. Finally on to Dingle for 5 nights in a beautiful B&B called Pax House.

Our last night will be in Shannon to be near the airport to turn in the car and head home on the 16th.

Stay tuned for pictures and updates.

-- Stuart

Travis McGee, the philosopher

2011-01-31T08:54:00.002-06:00

I love this passage from Pale Gray for Guilt by John T. MacDonald

"So they sat, holding hands, and Jan fell asleep.

Puss. gave me a sleepy wink and then she was gone

too. I looked out of the jet at December gray, at

cloud towers reaching up toward us. Tush was gone,

and too many others were gone, and I sought chill

comfort in an analogy of death that has been with

me for years. It doesn't explain or justify. It just

seems to remind me how things are.

Picture a very swift torrent, a river rushing down

between rocky walls: There is a long, shallow bar of

sand and gravel that runs right down the middle of

the river. It is under water. You are born and you

have to stand on that narrow, submerged bar, where

everyone stands. The ones born before you, the ones

older than you, are upriver from you. The younger

ones stand braced on the bar downriver. Arid the

whole long bar is slowly mOving down that river of

time, washing away at the upstream end and building

up downstream.

Your time, the time of all your contemporaries,

schoolmates, your loves and your adversaries, is that

part of the shifting bar on which you stand. Arid it is

crowded at first. You can see ·the way it thins out,

upstream from you. The old ones are washed away

and their bodies go swiftly by, like logs in the current.

Downstream where the younger ones stand

thick, you can see them flounder, lose footing, wash

away. Always there is more room where you stand,

but always the swift water grows deeper, and you

feel the shift of the sand and the gravel under your

feet as the river wears it away. Someone looking for

a safer place can nudge you off balance, and you are

gone. Someone who has stood beside you for a long

time gives a forlorn cry and you reach to catch their

hand, but the fingertips slide away and they are

gone. There are the sounds in the rocky gorge, the

roar of the water, the shifting, gritty sound of sand

and gravel underfoot, the forlorn cries of despair as

the nearby ones, and the ones upstream, are taken

by the current. Some old ones who stand on a good

place, well braced, understanding currllnts and balance,

last a long time. A Churchill, fat cigar atilt,

sourly amused at his own endurance and, in the

end, indifferent to rivers and the rage of waters. Far

downstream from you are the thin, startled cries of

the ones who never got planted, never got set, never

quite understood the message of the torrent.

Tush was gone, and our part of the bar was emptier,

and the jet raced from the sunset behind us to

the night ahead, and beside me slept the two

women, hand in hand, their lashes laying against the

high flesh of their cheeks with a heartbreaking precision,

a childish surrender, an inexpressible vulnerability."

Cook Family News for 2009

2009-12-27T13:30:00.002-06:00

Erin continues to live in Castle Rock, CO with Jackson, who turned 6 last April. She still has her cleaning business, Go Green Clean---cleaning homes in the Castle Rock/Denver areas. She just hired her first 2 employees. Erin began taking classes to finish her BS degree. She started this past summer--taking 2 classes most of the time in each of her 5 week "semesters". I'm going to guess (because I've lost track) that she's finished about 6 classes? She maintains a 4.0 GPA. Oh, her degree will be in Project Management. And believe me--she likes to manage all kinds of projects!

Jackson is in First grade--and is reading---. One has to be careful about spelling words out in his hearing--because he 'catches' them. He still loves to take things apart and put them together--over and over. He and his mom are best buds.

Ashleigh and Adreyene live in an apartment in Georgetown. Ashleigh continues as the head toddler teacher at Ms Mac's Shining Stars Daycare/ Private Christian School. It's becoming more and more common for me--in my job at the hospital, to meet a mom who has a child in daycare there--and of course--knows Ashleigh. I always get "I just love her". Because Ashleigh' s SO good with kids. (She didn't get that from her mom).

Adreyene is in Kindergarten and loving it. She, too, is beginning to read. She loves loves loves animals (duh).

Our daughters are wonderful moms.

Kelsey graduated from Mary Hardin Baylor U. this past summer and moved into a house with 4 other friends up in Temple. She has been working 3 different part time jobs, with one of them being with Chik-Fil-A in Temple. As of January 1, she will be promoted to manager and being trained as the Marketing person. I expect her to do very well in that position--using her creativity to its full extent! Kelsey's boyfriend, Luke, also works at Chik-Fil-A and will be promoted to General Manager in this same store. I think I left out the part that their boss is taking over the store in Killeen--he is taking Luke and Kelsey with him.

It's been fun for Stuart and I to watch Kelsey go from college student to self supporting adult in the space of just a few weeks. When it came time--she moved, she hustled to find enough jobs in the Belton/Temple area to support herself. She has wonderful housemates and is managing her 'new' life very well. We're very proud of her.

Stuart just reached the 10 yr mark with Maxwell, Locke and Ritter, CPA firm. He is their Network Administrator. He enjoys working there, very much. This past January, he hired an assistant, Josh--which has really eased the work load---Josh and Stuart work well together and I hear from people at MLR--that they laugh a lot--and make everyone around them laugh--as they keep all the computers working smoothly. This firm now has over 80 employees, up from 30 when Stuart started there 10 yrs ago. Stuart also still teaches with Austin Community College 2 evenings a week--teaching 2 courses. It makes for some very long days. Then on Fridays he works from home.

Most of you know that Stuart loves new challenges. Off the top of my head, I can think of photography, creating his own business to help people working on their PhD dissertations, rebuilding tractors and other farm equipment, teaching himself Russian--and now, his latest is woodworking. In the past several months he built a beautiful TV table with cabinets--with hand turned legs--to match the 'rustic' coffee table in our living room. Then--he took on building a wardrobe for Kelsey. He had never made drawers before--and again, made a beautiful piece of furniture. Next? He'll build himself a real shop--so that our cars can go back into the garage. Stay tuned for his next building project!

AND--Stuart began taking a couple of riding lessons from me--and going on some trail rides. He is very good and has enjoyed riding! I'm delighted. He rides Ashleigh's horse, MayDay, most of the time. Speaking of time--that's the one thing we don't have enough of--to do more riding together. But-what we've done has been lots of fun.

Janis began an apprenticeship with a horse trainer here in Georgetown. He trained under Pat Parelli, John Lyons and Ray Hunt. I finished the apprenticeship this past October--but continue to take lessons with him. I've loved what I've learned and continue to enjoy working with my horses --in a very new way. I also began serious studying, last January, to prepare to take the Lactation Consultant's exam. It was by far, the most challenging preparation I've ever done. I took the exam at the end of July--and in October, learned that I passed (much to my complete surprise). I am now Board certified--and work 2 days a week at St. David's Georgetown Hospital (where I've been for almost 9 years) as one of 3 Lactation Consultants, on staff.

Our family is all together for this week before Christmas. Erin and Jackson arrived this past Saturday from CO and will stay until Christmas night, when they fly back. Kelsey moved home for the week. Adreyene is staying with us---while her mom finishes her work week on Wednesday pm. Then, Ashleigh will move in, too, thru Christmas. Most of the time I'd like to 'downsize'--we have too much house. But-at these times---it's just perfect with all the bedrooms filled. The 'girls' are enjoying each other. Our 2 'grands' (borrowing Patsy Keith's term) are playing hard with each other. The days are moving swiftly. It's a very special time for us to all be together.

Contact us: 1001 West Bend Drive, Georgetown, TX 78626
Phone: (512) 869-1485
Janis: Janiscook@juno.com
Stuart: sscooktx@gmail.com

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and a Great 2010!

Love to all,

Stuart and Janis

2nd time a charm?

2009-03-28T17:36:00.004-05:00

Around the end of the year I noticed a small mole on the left side of my neck that I was quite sure hadn't been there for long. So in January I went to see the dermatologist who took a biopsy. Sure enough it needed to come off. Picture #1 shows how my neck looked after this excision.

The idea was to remove a small amount of tissue in the approximate shape of a football to include the mole and all irregular cells. When the pathology report came back it turned out that the little rascal had put out some runners that extended beyond the removed tissue.

Sooooo......

Back I went on Tuesday (March 24th) for a repeat. Here's how my neck looks now. I think the suture job looks much better this time, personally.

If you've ever had this type of work done, you know that the only painful part is the lidocaine shots they give to numb the area. I let the Dr. know that the young woman who did the numbing the first time did a much better job (she also did my stitches on #2 whereas the Dr. did the stitches on #1). He seemed to take this with a good humor.

I'll get the stitches out on April 3rd. Hopefully by then I'll also learn that the 2nd time is a charm.

What did YOU do New Year's Eve?

2008-01-07T19:14:00.000-06:00

I spent New Year's Eve in the hospital with just one thing on my mind.

You have to understand that I had never been a patient in a hospital in my life (since being born). So when I went in to Brackenridge Hospital on December 28th for surgery on my spine, I was nervous. After suffering with lower back pain for a few years and having tried all the non-surgical options, I sought the advice of a neurosurgeon. He showed me that the condition of the L4-L5 disk was degenerating and would continue to do so. It could not be repaired, it needed to be removed and replaced with some material that would harden and fuse the L4 and L5 vertebrae together. This surgery is typically now done from the front on the body, involving the services of a vascular surgeon to make the opening and move the blood vessels away from the spine so the neurosurgeon can do the repair to the spine.

My surgery was scheduled for noon on the 28th. Janis and I arrived at the hospital as requested at 9 AM. There was mostly waiting before I was wheeled to the pre-op room. This is where you meet the anesthesiologist, get an IV started, and so on. When it was time to go I got a shot of something in the IV that took effect before we were 10 feet out of the pre-op room and I didn't remember a thing until I woke up in my room. I must have awakened a bit in the recovery room, but I don't remember it.

Janis stayed with me in the room Friday night -- besides that I don't remember much until Saturday morning. That's when PT came in to get me out of bed. I had no idea it was going to hurt THAT much to go from lying to sitting the first time. But that was the only time I experienced any serious pain in the hospital. We walked about 20 feet down the corridor -- I felt nauseated and weak. We went back. Lying back down wasn't as bad as getting up! I got up again Saturday afternoon with much less discomfort -- and walked further.

To be released from the hospital I had to do several things. First, I had to show I could get out of bed by myself -- I did this on Monday. Second, I had to be able to get by on oral pain medications -- Sunday or Monday this happened. Third, had to get the catheter out -- Sunday, I think. The fourth and final sign of progress was to pass gas. This is medically necessary to show that the bowels are functioning following the surgery. By Monday evening, this still had not happened, though there were rumblings.

I was alone in the room on New Year's Eve--Monday night. I may have had the TV on. I don't remember. Then at 8:40 PM it happened -- the fourth sign! I immediately called Janis with the good news! She understood! I then called the nurses station and asked them to put this event into my chart. The next day, New Year's Day, 2008, I would be released to go home.

Perhaps there will be a new New Year's Eve tradition at Cook Acres!?!

News from Cook Acres: Christmas 2007

2008-01-05T17:18:00.000-06:00

December 27, 2007

“Christmas future is far away, Christmas past is past ….” Well, Christmas past is really just two days in the past right now, but past none the less. We did have ourselves a merry little Christmas, and we hope you did, too.

Our Christmas season was brightened first of all by a pre-Christmas visit from Janis’ parents, Jack and Nell Hampton, who motored down from McKinney, Texas to be with us from the 21st to the 23rd. They needed to be back home for Christmas, and we had to remain here at Cook Acres since Janis would need to work on the 24th, 25th, and 26th.

Erin and Jackson flew in on the 20th from Colorado. It was a long flight for them, with a layover in Salt Lake City. It was a late one, too. We got home around 1:30 AM, if I remember correctly. Jackson is more than 4 and a half now, a big boy, who is a big help to his mom. And she needs all the help she can get right now … George has gone his own way (divorce pending). At the end of last year they moved to Harrisonburg, Virginia for a job for George, leaving Erin’s real estate business behind. Now they are all back in Castle Rock, Colorado, and Erin has started a house cleaning business to make ends meet while she tries to find the energy to get her real estate business going again. While in Virginia Erin became pregnant, and lost the baby (Griffin Szczerba) just before their move back to Colorado. 2007 was a traumatic year for Erin – you can read more about it on her blog – http://inhotpursuitofgod.blogspot.com/.

It was great to have Erin and Jackson with us for Christmas. Here they are pictured playing with “moon sand” along with Kelsey (back to the camera), Adreyene, and Bobby (Kelsey’s boyfriend).

Ashleigh and Adreyene live in Georgetown in a great little apartment that they moved into in January of 2007. But for Christmas and the days surrounding it they camped out here at Cook Acres so that the sisters (Erin, Ashleigh and Kelsey) and the cousins (Jackson and Adreyene) could be together as much as possible.

Here are Adreyene, Ashleigh and Kelsey together on the couch. Ashleigh continues to be one of the Stars at Mrs. Mac’s Shining Stars Preschool, teaching the toddler class. Adreyene is a Star at Ms. Mac’s also.

Kelsey is home on Christmas break from her Junior year at the University of Mary Hardin Baylor, in Belton, Texas. Her two big highlights from 2007 were a semester in London (January to April) and getting her first 4.0 for the fall semester’s work! Woo Hoo!! Kelsey has also become a blogger – you should contact her for her blog address, it includes a lot of great pics and hilarious text regarding studying and living in London.

A lot of Janis’ highlights revolve around animals – surprise, surprise!

The second generation of horses born on Cook Acres began in May, when a beautiful filly, Aspen, was born to Storm, who was herself born here in 1997. The original plan, as I understood it, was to breed Storm, train the new horse, and sell it as a two year-old. But we didn’t realize how wonderful a filly she was going to be and (we should have known) that we were going to fall in love with her and could never sell her. What were we thinking???

Enter Plan B. Janis floated this idea while I was out of the country in Kazakhstan this month and caught me in a weak moment. “Let’s make miniature mules!” And so Cook Acres turns a new page.

We now have Gumbo, who is a jackass, (literally) and Onyx, a 6 month-old miniature mare. Here they are. I expect it will be 2009 before we can produce our first miniature mule. But go ahead and get your orders in now so you don’t miss out!

In addition to her many duties at Cook Acres and her nursing career, Janis held forth as the Captain of the Williamson County Sherriff’s Posse Mounted Drill Team (WCSPMDT, for short). She earned her fancy belt buckle and has turned over the reigns (pun, pun) of this organization to other hands.

I did very little this year. I did manage to get a lapel pin for teaching 5 years at Austin Community College. And I made another trip to Kazakhstan to teach in December. See my postings at http://cooktravels.blogspot.com/.

For those of you hoping to see the Pet Scoreboard, I regret to inform you that the PS is out for repairs. It only had room for cats, dogs, rats, pigs, horses, and fish. It’s being enlarged to include jackasses, miniature horses, and miniature mules. Check back next year.

For all the occupants of Cook Acres, Happy New Year!

Stuart

New Life

2007-05-23T07:29:00.001-05:00

We planned our vacation to Virginia at the wrong time. Janis anticipated the birth of Storm's foal for so long, and when we planned to be gone the week of May 21st, we didn't actually think about the fact that this was at the same time as Storm's due date. But when the vet indicated that probably she would be late, Janis relaxed a little.

We flew out on Sunday, the 20th. On Monday, while at a restaurant in Harrisonburg, VA, Janis received a call from Kelsey that Storm was in labor. The foal was born shortly thereafter. All is well. Except that every time the phone rings, Janis jumps, and the first words out of her mouth are "Is everything OK?"

So far, everything is great!

Tribute to Guster

2007-04-26T11:10:00.000-05:00

Guster died today.

Guster, shown here with Kelsey in her high school senior picture, was Kelsey's first dog. Her sister, Ashleigh, saved up and bought him for her for Christmas in 2004. He was a highly intelligent, extremely lively and wonderfully enjoyable Boston Terrier.

He started having convulsions yesterday morning. The vet thought it was the onset of epilepsy, but the medication didn't help. None of the other larger vet clinics in our area thought they could help. And so he was put to sleep today.

He leaves a large hole in our family, and especially in Kelsey's heart.

Chair

2007-04-22T15:02:00.000-05:00

Bluebonnets and Grandkids

2007-04-03T12:56:00.000-05:00

Erin and Jackson came for a week's visit. We got this pictues of Adreyene and Jackson on Tuesday night (April 3) the night before Jackson and Erin flew back to Virginia. It was great to see Jackson (he'll be 4 on the 12th) since we hadn't seen him for almost a year. And it was just as great to see what fun he had with this cousin.

Janis posed in the bluebonnets with her two older daughters also. Kelsey would be in the picture, but she's still in London until the 20th.

Fom the left (Ashleigh, Janis, Erin).

"Good-bye My Old Friend"

2007-03-14T14:41:00.000-05:00

This is the text of my Toastmasters speech from today

It was a warm June day in our nation’s capital. The delicate pink blossoms had all faded and fallen from the many cherry trees surrounding the heart of Washington. The sun beat down on the throngs of mourners who had lined up outside the Capitol building to pay their last respects to the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Regan.

Quietly taking his place in that line was an elderly man in a conservative blue suit. Unremarkable except for the distinctive birthmark on his bald pate, he drew little attention to himself as he wiped the perspiration from his well-known brow. This, of course, was Mikhail Gorbachev, who had flown in from Moscow to offer condolences to Nancy Reagan and to pay his last respects to his old adversary.

As he approached the flag-draped casket, he bowed his head in respect. He then reached out and gave the casket a tender pat and said something quietly, which some standing nearby said sounded like “До свидания, мой старый друг – Good-Bye, my old friend.”

That the two men had become friends is as certain as it is astounding, considering how their relationship began. After their first meeting in 1985, Gorbachev remarked to his aids that “Regan is a real dinosaur.” For his part, Reagan saw Gorbachev as a “die-hard Communist.” Not a promising beginning.

But we get ahead of ourselves. Let’s back up a bit. When Ronald Regan became president in 1981, Leonid Brezhnev was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, having succeeded Nikita Krushev in 1964. His health was failing and he died in 1982 and was succeeded by Yuri Andropov, another aging hold-over from the Stalin years. He lived only until 1984 and was replaced by yet another of his contemporaries, Konstantin Chernenko, who lived only until March of 1985.

All three of these leaders of the Soviet Union had exchanged correspondence with Reagan, much of it related to reducing nuclear arms. But little progress had been made. Bi-lateral talks in Geneva were stalled. In January, 1985 at the beginning of his second term, Regan had invited Chernenko to a summit meeting in Washington. When he died two months later, his replacement, young and energetic Mikhail Gorbachev, eagerly accepted the invitation, but suggested a neutral site. And so the summit was set for November, 1985 in Geneva.

There is no doubt that Ronald Regan had plenty of shortcomings. But he was not short on optimism or confidence in his ability to sit down with anyone and find a solution to issues they were facing. And so he desperately wanted to get away from his handlers and have some one-on-one time with Gorbachev. During a break on the first day of the summit, Regan invited Gorbachev to take a walk outside in the fresh air. On the walk the two exchanged frank if opposing views on several subjects. Regan invited Gorbachev to Washington to see America for himself – and in turn he invited Regan to Moscow – both invitations were accepted. Though no specific progress was made on arms reduction, they issued a joint statement that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must not be fought,” and they set the stage for two future summits.

One of the major sticking points was Regan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, known popularly as “Star Wars,” a program to deploy an anti-missile defense in space. Every time they met, Regan and Gorbachev did a little dance over SDI. Regan would insist that the program was purely defensive. Gorbachev would argue that it could be used offensively. Regan would disagree, Gorbachev would say it opens up an arms race in space. And so on.

In early 1986 the negotiations in Geneva continued with out a breakthrough. The prospect for a hoped-for summit in Washington, during which a major treaty would be signed, was looking rather bleak. Gorbachev proposed a summit in Reykjavik, Iceland with hopes that he and Regan could produce a breakthrough on a nuclear arms agreement. As the summit opened on October 11, Gorbachev proposed drastic cuts in all classes of nuclear weapons. Regan agreed. Then Gorbachev told Regan this is provided the US confines SDI to the laboratory. As the time of the summit was drawing to a close the two met privately, while all their aids waited for them. When Regan and Gorbachev emerged from their meeting, their long faces told the story, Regan had not relented on SDI and Gorbachev would not go forward with his proposal.

The summit at Reykjavik was widely viewed as a failure, but the two world leaders continued their dialog through correspondence, both committed to finding a way to reduce nuclear tensions. The correspondence between the two leaders continued throughout 1987 – finally the Soviets agreed to reduce intermediate nuclear weapons without insisting on the US dropping SDI. Gorbachev came to Washington and on December 8, 1987 the two countries signed the INF treaty, for the first time reducing actual numbers of existing nuclear arsenals.

It was a small step, but a decisive one. The Senate ratified the INF treaty on May 27, 1988, two days before Regan arrived in Moscow for a summit. No new treaties were signed at that summit, but Regan addressed a huge crowd of students at Moscow State University, declaring “We do not know what the conclusion will be of this journey, but we’re hopeful that the promise of reform will be fulfilled. In this Moscow spring, the May 1988, we may be allowed that hope: that freedom, like the fresh green sapling planted over Tolstoy’s grave, will blossom forth at last in the rich fertile soil of your people and culture.”

And freedom did blossom in Russia and Eastern Europe. Gorbachev introduced unprecedented freedoms in the Soviet Union. In 1989 the Berlin Wall fell and by the end of 1991 the Soviet Union was dissolved.

These developments, marking the end of the cold war and the end of nuclear tension between the two great superpowers, is largely the story of two men. Two men who viewed the world so differently, but who found a way to make that world a safer place. Adversaries, indeed. But respected adversaries, and in the end, friends.

Ice Days

2007-01-16T19:17:00.000-06:00

January 2007 will be remembered as the month of the great American ice storm. Here in central Texas we get hardly any winter (usually). But this is Tuesday evening and the end of the 3rd day we've all been here together at home because it was too dangerous to travel. (Well, Janis went to work on Monday morning at the hospital before the roads iced over, but other than that, we've been here.)

It had been raining already a few days when the cold air hit on Monday. So everything was already soaked and then started to freeze. Once the air got cold enough to get the road surfaces below 32, it was pretty much a done deal that Central Texas was going to shut down. Some people at Maxwell Locke & Ritter went to work on Monday, but not me. Fortunately we now have high speed Internet access here at the house, so I can access and manage our network at the office from home. I spent quite a bit of time on Monday helping others get onto our network servers remotely for the first time or solving other minor problems. It was interesting for a while, but one does get tired of just sitting at the desk on the computer all day.

It actually got worse on Tuesday (today) so that the office was actually closed and nobody went in today. The temperature stayed below freezing all day and the precip continued to fall. Now it's falling frozen rather than freezing on the road, but the base of ice is there and staying there until we warm up.

It seemed that fewer people tried to work today, or maybe had fewer problems, because the demands for my attention today were minimal.

Forecast for tomorrow is for more frozen precip ending around midday. Might get up over freezing briefly tomorrow afternoon, and then we should start to warm up on Thursday.

So its another day at home tomorrow. ACC is closed again tomorrow, so my evening class, which was to start, will have to wait until next week.

Looks like a two-day week at the office. : - ) Boy, I can't wait for the weekend!

Of Friends and Fingerpainting

2007-01-13T12:24:00.000-06:00

Several years ago on New Year's Eve, I was at odd ends with no plans. I think that Janis was working that night. On the afternoon of the 31st I got a call from my friend, Mark Roberts, inviting me to their house for New Year's Eve. I was glad to have something to do, and the Roberts are fun to be around. They had three young kids at the time, I think maybe that year they were 9, 7, and 5, but I could be off a few years.

Mark and I travelled to Almaty together in 2002 to teach at CALTC. We have known each other since we moved to Georgetown in 1995. They are a fun family.

I stopped by Walmart on my way over to get some snacks to add to the evening's festivities and happened by the arts and crafts aisle, where I spied the fingerpaints. "Fingerpaints!" I thought. That would be fun. So I grabbed some and some paper along with the snacks. A lot of people wouldn't be happy to see a guy walk in with fingerpainting stuff when they have a bunch of young kids, not wanting the house messed up. But Mark and Therese thought it would be fun. (Therese is an artist in her own right, so she saw the creative potential.)

We did have a good time fingerpainting that night, and the mess was easily cleaned up.

The next year the Roberts hosted New Year's Eve again and this time the invitation featured fingerpainting as one of the evening's activities. It has become a family tradition with them. They fingerpaint every year on New Year's Eve.

The Roberts family moved away from Texas this year to Grand Island, New York. We hear from them occasionally. I was surprised to receive an envelope from them yesterday with these two works of art and a note that said "We think of you every New Year's Eve now as we continue the fingerpainting tradition."

It's kind of special to have created a family tradition for another family, and very special to be remembered fondly for it.

Oh, yes, almost forgot. The second picture is by Tim, whom Mark and Therese adopted from Kazakhstan a couple of years ago. Now they have four fantastic kids!

Inertia

2007-01-07T14:00:00.000-06:00

This picture, taken yesterday, typifies my activities for the past month or so. I've been lying around "resting" at home while not at work. No extra energy. I'm being held down here by Lucy (Tiny Toy Poodle) and Guster (Boston Terrier -- sporting his wrap to prevent inside the house accidents). I had no choice but to lie there on the loveseat and watch the football playoffs, since these huge dogs had me pinned down.

I'm not sure what I would have done if I had not been pinned down like this. One of the things I have NOT done is to write our annual Christmas (or New Years) letter. It's not that we had a bad year or anything (I can always make up stuff like some of our friends, to whit, " . . . Junior got all A's again this year, scored the winning touchdown each game of the season, had his first poem published in the New Yorker, and took the blue ribbon at the State Fair for best dried flower arrangement . . ." you've heard this kind of stuff before, I know.) Just didn't seem to have the energy, the creative juices, the umph, whatever it is to get started on the darn thing. Last year I dashed it off in a hurry and failed to mention several key family members as being present at Kelsey's high school graduation -- thought I'd never hear the end of that! Better to err on the side of inactivity than to do something in a hurry and make people mad!

In the meantime, there are more playoff games to watch, so I need to get back to the couch.

I have what? Something written on my forehead?

2006-08-13T19:18:00.000-05:00

When I was in Almaty, Kazakhstan in May, I missed the next to the last week of my Russian class back in Austin. I looked for some small souveniers to take back to my classmates. While checking out at the grocery store, I spied packs of gum, labeled "Хубба Бубба" (Hubba Bubba) -- I had to get some to share back home. Hubba Bubba bubble gum has been around for a long time, and to see it transliterated into Russian for some reason seemed really funny to me. I bought several packs of gum and brought it back home.

I didn't really try to read the rest of the package, but my Russian instructor, Joe Liro (aka Professor Pancake) noticed written on the package the following: Наклейка внутри. The word "внутри" means "inside." Hmm . . . Something is inside the package beside the gum, but what was it? The word "клей" means "glue or paste" -- something "sticky" -- aha! Наклейка is a "sticker"! And here is a scan of the sticker that was inside my pack of Hubba-Bubba. The little guy in the sticker is asking, "I have what? Something written on my forehead?" And that is what is written on his forehead. Do you find this humorous? I do! If you do, congratulations, you have not lost the sense of humor you had as a child! I'm told that women tend to lose it and men tend not to, which explains why men find find slapstick humor like The Three Stooges funny more often than do women.

I had one other pack of Hubba-Bubba. That sticker had a kid with his head down on his school desk apparently asleep and the conversation bubble over his head said, "Я не сплю, я думаю."

What's written on your forehead?

Prayer of a Chicken

2006-08-11T07:38:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's desk calendar by "Rubes" featured the praying chicken you see here. The chicken is praying to whoever is going to prepare her for human consumption. (Grammatical note: whoever is correct here (not whomever), because this pronoun gets its form from its use in the dependent clause of which it is a part. I know this thanks to Martin Hitchcock of the Austin Toastmasters Club, who one time gave an entire speech on the use of whoever and whomever!!)

What impressed me about this prayer is how unselfish it is. The chicken prays only that in her death she may provide healthy nutrition to others. This viewpoint would qualify her to be a Christian disciple--people who are urged by their teacher to take up their crosses daily and follow him.

Russian Keyboard

2006-08-10T09:45:00.000-05:00

A few years ago I bought the software to allow my keyboard to type in Russian. Even though there is a free Russian keyboard included with Windows, its the standard Russian keyboard with keys arranged in ways that make it hard for someone used to the QWERTY keyboard to find them. This software has worked great up to recently when it has started to misbehave. At first it would switch not to the phonetic keyboard but to the standard Russian keyboard when using the hot keys to switch from English to Russian. More recently it has been causing the computer to lockup when switching languages.

Finally yesterday I had had enough. I knew that there have been keyboard layout design programs around for years, but the last one I tried to use was difficult to learn and I gave up. So I googled for help. I found a free keyboard layout designer from Microsoft and downloaded it. The program allowed me to import the standard Russian keyboard from my computer and then rearrange the keys to the phonetic arrangement I was used to. (Russian "a" is on the "a" key; Russian "ф" is on the "f" key, and so on. This program then creates a .msi file that you install and presto, you have your new keyboard layout.

I've uninstalled the program I bought and am just using Windows language-switching. No more lock-ups when switching languages. Hooray! (Ура!)

By the way, if anybody who's used to the qwerty keyboard wants to get the keyboard layout I made, just let me know, I'll send it to you.

Am I Lucky or What?! -- Toastmasters Speech

2006-08-08T20:41:00.000-05:00

You already know about this from my post of a few weeks ago, but here's how I put these events together for a speech from the storytelling manual at Capital City Toastmasters.

Storytelling Manual, Project #2, Let’s Get Personal, August 9, 2006
“Am I Lucky or What!?” 6-8 minutes

I’m going to tell you a story that I’ve already told to several friends. The variety of reactions I’ve gotten to this story is fascinating to me. Let’s see what your reaction will be!

When I was in Moscow in June to perform the wedding ceremony for my good friend Masha and her American groom, I made quite a few new friends. At the reception I got to talking to a 20-something young woman named Lyudmila and her brother, Andrey. I learned that their older sister, Evelina and her husband, Kostya are currently working on graduate degrees at Baylor University – yes, our Baylor, just up the road in Waco. I gave Lyudmila my contact information and urged her to contact me and tell me how to get in touch with her sister. Besides being a friendly guy, I’m always looking for friendly Russian speakers with whom to practice my language skills.

I was thrilled when, a week or so after I got back from Moscow, I heard from Lyudmila and subsequently communicated with Evelina and Kostya. We discussed getting together sometime and then somehow the subject of rodeo came up. They had been in Texas for 2 years and never been to a rodeo – “Horrors!” I declared. “You have to see a rodeo!” And as luck would have it the Taylor Rodeo was coming up in a couple of weeks and they agreed to come to dinner beforehand and then go to the rodeo with us.

The most important decision about this evening was, What to fix for dinner? Since this is Texas, it seemed appropriate to grill out. Steaks would have been perfect, but we already had hamburger patties, so burgers it was! Burgers, coleslaw, beans, chips – a good American meal. To internationalize it a bit, I visited Sasha’s Russian Gourmet Deli and purchased Xalva and Kvas. Xalva is a kind of dessert that I first ate in Kazakhstan – like a lot of things, it looks disgusting but is actually quite sweet and delicious. It’s made from sunflower or sesame seeds that are pulverized and formed into something that would pass for a rock if you saw a hunk of it in the forest – but it flakes apart with a fork and is eaten with the fingers. Yummy. Kvas, on the other hand, is a beverage that looks good – looks exactly like root beer, but is really quite disgusting. It’s made from bread – somehow – and Russians LOVE it, why they love it, I cannot imagine. Evelina and Kostya loved the kvas and xalva and seemed pretty pleased with the burgers as well.

At 7:15 we took separate cars to the Taylor rodeo, which is just 20 minutes away. We got there in plenty of time for the first event, saddle bronco riding. Explaining the events and watching Evelina and Kostya enjoy them was a lot of fun for me. I felt like an ambassador of Texas goodwill. My personal favorite event is “mutton-bustin’.” You know this one? Where little kids cling to the backs of sheep, with the last one to fall off the winner. The most exciting event was the bull-riding. It is at once the most difficult and dangerous event of the rodeo, and as such is saved for last.

Near the end of the bull-riding, Janis’ cell-phone rang. I could tell from her expression that it was something serious. When she got off the phone the first thing she said was, “Everything is OK, . . . . but . . . “ You know the “but” is coming. There had been a fire at our house, but it had been contained to the deck. We needed to get home, so we said our good-byes to Evelina and Kostya and headed home.

Here’s what happened. Sometime after 7:15 the grill with charcoal still hot got knocked over. I suspect that one burger that lost its grip and fell onto the charcoal was putting out an aroma that enticed one of our normally perfectly behaved dogs to go after it and tip over the grill. Nobody was at our house, so nobody noticed that at some time the deck began to smolder and burn. But around 8:30 a young man who used to live in our area and now is a firefighter in Liberty Hill was driving up our road and saw the flames. He pulled in, found nobody home, called 911 and extinguished the blaze with our garden hose. A south breeze had blown the fire to within 3 feet of the back door, but amazingly the house was completely unaffected by the fire, except for the deck.

It was shocking to see the hole, about 6 feet across that had been burnt into our deck. And yet how much worse it could easily have been.

And it is at this point in the story that we get the variety of reactions. Most of my friends from work say, “You were sooo lucky!” But you know, for some reason, I didn’t feel lucky. I didn’t know what to feel. I was glad the house didn’t burn down, I was sad that the deck, which I had built myself was ruined, but I didn’t feel any of this very strongly, I wasn’t sure how to feel.

At church we got different characterization of this event. Most of our church friends said some variation of, “Well, thank God the house didn’t burn down.” Or “Somebody was watching out for you.” This is the theologically correct characterization for a Christian. All good things come from God. But was this particular event, the fireman who drove up our road just at the right time a “special” act of goodness toward us? Certainly there is nothing about us in particular to attract such benevolence. Why does my house get spared a fire and whole villages in southern Lebanon get bombed out of existence in roughly the same period of time?
There is no logic to explain this.

Why can’t I just be happy about this? My house didn’t burn down. I am happy, I just don’t understand, “Am I lucky, or What?!”

Something on my Mind

2006-08-08T18:40:00.000-05:00

Go ahead, make the obvious observation that I'm a bird-brain.

We had quite a few animals around here before Janis mentioned that one of the nurses at work had a cockatiel she needed to give away to a good home. We only have five dogs, three cats (the two inside cats are de-clawed), three horses, and a pig, but no bird. We've actually never owned a bird in 31 years of marriage, and so, of course we took the bird.

For the first several days, Hollywood, our new cockatiel, was pretty shy. But he does love to get out of his cage and for the past few days he's mounted the shoulders of Janis, Ashleigh and Kelsey. This afternoon when I got home he was on the dining room table interacting with Janis. When I went into the kitchen, he flew in there and perched on the ceiling fan (powered off, of course). Twice while I was fixing something for dinner I heard unexpected fluttering near my ears and ducked. Janis said I should be more calm because "Hollywood seems to like you." I brought my snack into the living room, and Hollywood followed. Watching me from the living room ceiling fan, Hollywood seemed to size up the possibility of landing on my head. I was prepared for him and sure enough here he came! After enjoying the view from my head for a while, he moved onto the computer keyboard, at which he pecked for quite a while.

Now he's on Janis' shoulder. Ansel, Janis' cat, is watching him at close range with great interest. So far, the dogs and cats simply seem curious about Hollywood.

Stay tuned for further developments

People Change. Isn't that nice!

2006-08-02T19:50:00.000-05:00

Who is this handsome young man with the dark, thick, wavy hair and long sideburns?

The photo was made from a slide dated 1971. Judging by the sweater, it must have been January or December. The location appears to be the living room of the stately residence at 1510 Pine Street, Berwick, Pennsylvania. The residence of Marge and Robey Cook. It appears their sun, Stuart, is either home from his final year of college at Penn State (if its January) or from his first year of seminary at Dallas Theological Seminary (if its December). The lad has the smug look of -- well either a senior in college or a first year seminarian, so that doesn't help pinpoint the exact date. Certainly he has no clue of what would unfold in his life over the following 35 years . . . marriage, career changes, children, grandchildren, some heartaches, but many more joys . . . he's certainly a much different person now, and other than looking a lot older, that's mostly for the good.

Of new friends, festivities, fire on Friday

2006-07-15T19:17:00.000-05:00

It was going to be an exciting day, but turned out to be even more exciting.

The Taylor Rodeo started yesterday, Friday, July 14th. Janis and Ashleigh rode their horses in the Williamson County Sheriff's Posse Mounted Drill Team to start the festivities. All of that, plus the rodeo itself went as planned.

I had invited Evelina and Kostya Petrenko along with their friends Dennis and Natasha to join me for dinner before and then for the rodeo itself. Evelina is the eldest sister in a family of six siblings, out of which I had met two -- Andrey and Ludmila in Moscow in June at Nathan and Masha's wedding. And having found out that Andrey and Ludmila have a sister in Waco studying along with her husband at Baylor, I got in touch with them. Their friends Dennis and Natasha are from the Ukraine.

Here's a picture of the four of them (from the right, Dennis, Natasha, Evelina, Kostya) -- also notice Kelsey with Adreyene and Kelsey's friend Bobby off to the left. Evelina also posted on her blog some pictures from the rodeo and from visiting our "farm" beforehand.

Near the end of the rodeo we got a cellphone call from Ashleigh, who had gone home already -- the fire department had just left our house. It seems the charcoal grill with hot coals still in it had gotten tipped over onto the wood deck and started the deck on fire--while no one was home. This might have happened shortly after we left for the rodeo at 7:15. Sometime around 8:30 a passing motorist, who just happened to be a firefighter for the Sam Bass Fire Department, saw the fire and took the initiative to stop and investigate. Finding nobody home, he got the garden hose and was able to extinguish the fire. He also called 911 and the Weir VFD responded right about 9:00. Our passerby, we learned, is named Jason Pierce. Check his page on the Sam Bass Fire Department web site.

Thankfully, the fire did not reach the house! There is a 6x6 foot hole in the deck now, and of course the grill is destroyed -- but, oh my, how much worse it could have been. The insurance adjuster will come, I hope, on Monday and then we can get on with rebuilding the deck.

Friends, festivities, and then fire. What if it had been Friday the 13th and not the 14th?

It's me.

2006-06-27T10:24:00.000-05:00

Moscow!!!

2006-06-17T06:51:00.000-05:00

On the day I arrived in Moscow, I went downtown and walked around. The sun was setting only around 10:30 pm while I was there. This photo was taken about at dusk. I'm standing on a bridge over the Moscow river, looking at the Kremlin. You can see clearly one of the Kremlin towers and in the background one of the 4 ancient churches that stand inside the Kremlin walls.

I was in Moscow primarily to officiate at the church wedding of my friend Masha and Nathan. The wedding took place at a charming little church located within an old cemetary in the eastern part of Moscow. The wedding was beautiful and meaningful. It was a bilingual wedding as we had those who only spoke English, only Russian, or both. The service was conducted in English with an excellent interpreter translating into Russian. Afterwards was a very nice reception in a different part of town.

Besides officiating at the wedding, I spent my time sight-seeing and visiting. I stayed with Sasha and Ira -- brother and sister-in-law of my friend, Vladimir, in Austin. They have a spare room (a real luxury in Moscow) and gave me the run of the apartment. They were gone to their summer cottage (dacha) from Friday to Monday night, so during that time I felt like a real Muskovite with his own place. It was fun.

I got good at riding the Metro (subway), ate some new foods, made some new friends, and saw some beautiful sights.

Now, to plan the next trip back!!

In Moscow

2006-06-09T03:24:00.000-05:00

I arrived in Moscow on Wednesday, June 7th at about noon. Masha and Nathan (bride and groom for Saturday's wedding) were there to meet me. We grabbed some lunch at the stolovia (cafeteria) and talked for an hour and then waited for Vanessa (Masha's friend from D.C.) to arrive. Vanessa had trouble with her luggage and so she was late coming out to find us, but after she did we all rode the marshrutka (shuttle bus) to the closest Metro stop and then rode the Metro together. Nathan, Masha and Vanessa all got out at her stop and I rode on to the station where I changed lines and then rode on to my stop in southwest Moscow.

I had a little trouble finding Sasha and Ira's apartment, but did finally and when I did, they were not home! It was nearly 5:00 and I expected Sasha to be home. I decided to try to talk to a neighbor (the apartment entrances are in clusters of 4 on each floor, and often these people if they live in the same place a long time, become good friends with their neighbors). One neighbor answered the door and I succeeded in communicating in Russian who I was and what my problem was regarding finding Sasha. He made some calls and then he got the key to Sasha's apartment and let me in! Hurrah! I was a little concerned that Sasha's dog -- a beautiful big German Shepherd would not remember me, but if he did or didn't at least he didn't attack, we greeted each other (he smelled my hand) and then all was well.

Sasha and Ira came home by about 6:15, and we had a nice reunion.

This post is coming from an Internet Cafe in the underground mall next to Red Square. I'm almost out of time, so further posts and (I hope) some pictures will follow.

Today's Speech from the Storytelling Manual for Toastmasters

2006-05-24T10:34:00.000-05:00

I think that I was not that different from any other young married man, anticipating the birth of his first child. I wanted a boy. In truth, I didn’t want a boy as strongly as my wife wanted a girl, and I knew I would be happy either way. And so when Erin Colleen Cook was born on February 26, 1977, I was about as proud as any new father could be.

Getting pregnant was so easy the first time that I figured it would be so all the time. (One time I remember my mother talking about getting pregnant. She said, “All your father had to do was hang his pants on the bedpost and I got pregnant.” I don’t remember how old I was at the time, but it seemed way too simple to me.) Usually only high school girls get pregnant that easily. I clearly remember my high school Sunday school teacher, Frey Davis, a big-framed man with huge farmer hands, in which the KJV Bible seemed small as a notepad, scolding us for sewing our wild oats and then praying for a crop failure. Such prayers usually went unanswered anyhow, it seemed to me.

But for us, the second pregnancy became an elusive mist, a kind of mirage that disappeared when we got closer. So the planned interval of two years stretched to almost five before Janis got pregnant with number two. Again, the Dad in me yearned for a son. But on August 3, 1982 Ashleigh Michelle Cook was born. And again, I was about as proud as any new father could be.

And we decided that a family of four was just right for us. We were done. We employed a birth control method that required one to be rather vigilant upon each needed occasion. And one night around Christmas time in 1985, the mood was just right, the passion built and taking the time for vigilance failed to materialize – and in its place materialized a new life. Child number three was on the way.

In those days it was not routine for expectant parents to ascertain the sex of the child before birth, and we saw no reason to break this pattern. As you can imagine, I felt that my desire for a son was given another chance. Already Janis had two girls. It was my turn.

The pregnancy proceeded normally. On September 22, the doctor indicated that labor could start at any time and it did, that very day. We arrived at Baylor Hospital in Dallas ready to greet our new child. The birthing room was cozy and private. Our doctor was a good friend. The labor proceeded on schedule and without problem. It was a nice time. (Most likely Janis remembers some additional details that I have forgotten.) But really, it was all quite nice.

Not much time passed before things started getting serious. The pains got stronger and more frequent. Soon it was time for Janis to push. With just a few pushes the head emerged – and that was when the doctor went from casual caretaker to extreme emergency care physician. I, too could tell that something was wrong. The baby’s face was a purple/blue and it seemed to be stuck. The cord was wrapped two or three times around its head and the shoulder would not come out, so that blood was being cut off from the head.

My first reaction was to pray.

Now, I should tell you that at this time I was a seminary professor. As a theological student I had studied every aspect of the theology of prayer. I knew the theological ins and outs of talking to God. I could pray in public on a moment’s notice – and sound good. But in this moment, all of that was irrelevant. I felt myself to be as helpless before God as my third child, who was struggling to be born. And I simply cried out to God “Please let this baby be OK.”

The next thing I knew the doctor managed to free the shoulder enough to unwrap the cord and allow the baby to be fully born. I was the first to notice that our third daughter, Kelsey Meghan Cook, had just entered the world – I surprised myself when I yelled with complete joy “It’s a girl!” At that very moment I was the happiest person in the world to have another girl – a safe and healthy baby girl. Without noticing it, the desire for a son completely and forever disappeared. From that moment I have never had a single regret that God gave us three daughters. I’m sure sons are terrific, but I’m completely satisfied that I never said, “It’s a boy!”

Getting Ready for Moscow

2006-05-22T10:12:00.000-05:00

Next stop, Moscow!

Departure for a week in Moscow is set for June 6th. The main purpose for the trip is to officiate at the wedding of my good friend Masha (pictured here) and her groom-to-be Nathan. I've known Masha since 2002 when I travelled to Almaty, Kazakhstan for my 2nd teaching experience at CALTC. They're getting married on June 10th. It will be a true international wedding, with Masha's relatives arriving from Kazakhstan and Nathan's from the US.

I'll be staying with Sasha and Irina in southwest Moscow. Sasha is the brother of my Austin friend Vladimir Mastrukov. I'm lookingforward to the wedding, of course, but also to getting in a bit more sight-seeing in Moscow in, I hope, some warm weather.

No Trip to KZ Next Year

2006-05-17T08:52:00.000-05:00

I got the official word today that East-West Ministries International has decided to cancel the 2006-2007 version of their normal school-year institute, CALTC, where I have been teaching, in Almaty, Kazakhstan. I'm not surprised. Ivan, one of the Russian-track teaching assistants had hinted that this decision might be made. And indeed, the student enrollment had declined in each of the past five years to just 9 students this year. This time off will give the Central Asian leadership time to consider the needs for pastoral training in their area and various methods they might use to meet these needs.

But for the time being, seems my trips to KZ have run their course. Thanks again for your support.

Home again!

2006-05-09T12:46:00.000-05:00

Following a day of souvenier shopping and resting on Saturday, I flew home on Sunday. Since one gains 11 hours returning home, Sunday was actually 35 hours long. And it felt like it as I sat on airplanes for 6, 9, and 2 hours flying to Frankfurt, Chicago, and Austin. With some time in between to enjoy the Frankfurt and Chicago airports.

I'm now in my second day of recovery from jet lag and I think in one or two more I'll be recovered. Thanks to all who supported and prayed for this trip.

Friday Evening in Almaty

2006-05-05T20:14:00.000-05:00

Here are my friends, Dana (sounds like Donna) and Barzhan (sounds like Barzhan) at a little indoor/outdoor cafe not far from the faculty apartment. We met for dinner on Friday night and had a very nice visit together. I first met Dana 4 years ago when Mark Roberts and I travelled to Almaty together. Mark had met Dana earlier and invited her to one of our student dinners. (That evening Mark and I laughed harder than anyone in the history of the world and afterwards Dana has always been known as Crazy Dana in our family.) She and Barzhan met and got married a little over a year ago, and now are expecting their first child. After dinner we took a stroll down Rozabakieva Street to a store where they insisted on buying some candy and tea to send home with me to our family. Nice time, good friends!

Mission Accomplished

2006-05-05T19:59:00.000-05:00

Student Teaching was the order of the day for Friday. With just 8 students it was possible to assign each one a 20 minute slot to present the sample lesson that they had worked on all week. To a person, they all did a great job. I'm not just saying that, because I was their teacher, but they really all did super. Two taught in a classroom setting and then the rest taught as in a home group as pictured here.

After each teaching session we spent time as a group discussing the things the presenter did well and any suggestions for improvement.

By the time we finished all of the student teaching there was just 15 minutes left to review for their final exam, which will be administered on Monday morning (after I'm safely back in the States -- an excellent strategy!).

Thursday Night in Almaty

2006-05-04T10:07:00.000-05:00

Four days of teaching are now complete. Most of today was spent watching and discussing the film, The Miracle Worker. It's a 90 minute film, but we had to stop frequently to explain what was going on, especially if there was a period of intense dialogue. As always, the film's powerful emotional impact was not lost on these prospective teachers, despite the language barrier.

Tonight was the second of two student dinners. Two students with their wives and combined four children joined me along with an interperter. We had a nice time of the home-cooked meal. And then enjoyed a rousing game of "spoons."

Here are a few pictures from class and from dinner.

May Day dinner with the Leytner Family in Almaty

2006-05-02T19:42:00.000-05:00

Here from left to right are Valentina, Sasha, Levin and Galina. These are the Leytners with whom I had dinner on Monday night.

I went back to their house after teaching on Tuesday because I had forgotten my Penn State cap there. I thought I would just drop by and pick up the cap, but of course, they insisted I stay for a bite to eat. Then Levin and I walked a few blocks to the mall where he needed to get milk, and I found a video store and purchsed a couple of Russian/English videos to aid my oral comprehension of Russian.

Teaching went well on Tuesday. The students seem to be grasping the lesson planning ideas I'm giving them.

Here is one of our students in the classroom test driving one of the wooden cars that I brought to give to orphans and other needy children.

After the first day of teaching

2006-05-01T10:48:00.000-05:00

Even though today was a national holiday, CALTC Russian track held class. Overall assessment is that the day went well. The enrollment is down this year to 9 students. One of them is out of the country right now, so there are 8 students. Even though the numbers are fewer than in other years, the enthusiasm of these students is very high. They all seemed to be tracking with me during the lectures, and most importantly, they laughed at my jokes!

They were assigned 4 chapters of the text to read tonight with a quiz to follow tomorrow morning.
Tonight I went as a guest to the home of Levin and Valentina Leytner. Their daughter, Svetlana is a friend of mine in Austin. I delivered a package to them from Svetlana and picked up twice as much to bring back! This is normal. This is the 4th year I've had this experience as part of my Almaty trip. Valentina cooked an incredible meal, including (learned after I started chewing) smoked horse meat -- I thought it was ham : (

Now I'm back at the faculty flat and ready for bed.

Sunday Evening in Almaty

2006-04-30T22:52:00.000-05:00

Today was a great first day in Almaty. I went to the Russian-speaking church associated with the school. There I saw several old friends, including this couple, Masha and Yura, with whom I had lunch afterwards. The picture looks blue because we're outside under a canopy that is translucent blue, thus coloring the light. Yura directs the music at church and Masha works in bookkeeping at the school. They've been married for five years. A very nice couple.

I did get in a good nap this afternoon. Not so much that I wont' go to sleep tonight, I hope. Well, tomorrow is the first day of school. Though it's a national holiday, the school is carrying on. I'll post a report on the first day tomorrow night.

Sunday Morning in Almaty

2006-04-29T21:27:00.000-05:00

Almaty, Kazakhstan -- here I am on Sunday morning with my first cup of tea! Our flight arrived on time at Almaty at just before midnight local time last night. I was met at the airport by Ivan (teaching assistant from CALTC) and Maxim (a former student who still lives in Almaty, has a car, and serves as a driver). I asked Maxim what kind of car he has and he said "a good one!" Its a Toyota station wagon imported used from Japan, complete with steering wheel on the right side.

I'm alone at the faculty apartment right now, though Ivan said that I might be getting a roommate, another CALTC teacher today (Sunday). It feels familiar here. I'm in the same room I stayed in the last few years. Everything is the same, same old furniture, same no desk lamp, etc. I do see a new fan, a floor model. They've already had a few hot days here and of course there is no AC. But the weather for this week is supposed to be kind of rainy and cool -- highs in the 60's or low 70's.

Ivan is coming over to walk to the Resurrection Church with me this morning. Most of the Russian-speaking folks from the school attend here. I'm sure I see some former students as well as other friends.

Thank you all for your prayers. So far everything as gone very well!

Frankfurt Airport -- Saturday, April 29

2006-04-29T04:23:00.000-05:00

I arrived at the Frankfurt, Germany airport this morning at about 10:00 local time. It's 7 hours ahead of Texas here, so back there is just 3:00 AM. I should be asleep. I didn't actually sleep much on the flight from Chicago. We travelled on a 777, configured with 5 seats in the middle, and I had the middle of those 5 seats -- pretty much hemmed in. Just could not get comfortable. Well I fee OK now and here at the airport in addition to wireless Internet there is a section with "lounge-like" chairs where you can stretch out and take a snooze, which I hope to do next. The picture is not of our plane. This is the tail section of a Boeing 747-400, taken from the window of the McDonald's restaurant in Terminal B.

I also saw an engine of some kind on display outside the window shortly after getting off the flight from Chicago. I'm counting on Steve Dest to ID it.

Next stop, Almaty.

Departure Day -- Friday, April 28

2006-04-28T07:24:00.000-05:00

Here I am at the Austin airport, ready to check in. I don't like to take so many bags, but I have things to deliver that forced me to take a second bag to check.

1. I have 25 little wooden cars hand-made by a man in Sun City that I'm going to deliver to some folks in Almaty who take a special interest in orphans. I'm sure that they will find a way to use these little toys in their regular outreach to the kids.

2. Less altruistic, but just a much fun, I have a package to deliver to Svetlana's parents, sister, niece. Svetlana (originally from Almaty, now teaches Chemistry at UT) dropped off the package for me on Tuesday. The great thing about this part of my trip is that I go to Svetlana's parents' house for dinner, where her mom fixes a feast each year. They have a dacha in the country where they can grow lots of their own fruits and vegetables, so a lot of what we eat at their house comes from their own garden. This dinner is to take place on Monday, May 1st, which is a national holiday, so the whole family should be able to gather.

Next post will be from Kazakhstan!

Professor Pancake makes a guest appearance

2006-04-25T08:27:00.000-05:00

"Professor Pancake" (in Russian Profssor Blinchikov) aka Joseph Liro, Admissions Director at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest, and my Russian instructor at ACC this year, will make a guest appearance in my class at CALTC in just a few days.

For years I have been looking for the right person to play this role. I've been wanting to film a skit of a somewhat absent-minded professor expounding on the Seven Laws of Teaching by Gregory. I use these seven principles in my class on teaching methods. The students are required to provide their own paraphrase of the seven laws in a poem, skit, Powerpoint presentation, object lesson or other creative activity. So I thought it would be fun to have my own humorous rendition. But I needed a Russian speaker who would play this role. Joe did a GREAT job, even flirting with an imaginary female student during his "lecture." I think this will be very well received by my class and help to keep the atmosphere in the class light-hearted and enjoyable.

Hurrah for Professor Pancake!

8 Days to departure

2006-04-20T16:54:00.000-05:00

Getting down to the wire now. I have one project to complete. Just today I filmed "Professor Blinkov" (would be rendered in English as Professor Pancake) teaching a short lesson on the "Seven Laws of Teaching." Professor Blinkov is actually Joseph Liro, my Russian teacher, who agreed to play the part of a slightly senile professor, complete with cap and gown, lecturing to an imaginary audience in Russian about these teaching principles. He did a fantastic job. The video is hilarious. Now I just need to transfer it onto my PC using Windows Movie Maker and package it into little chunks to use throughout my lectures. I think it will spice up the class quite nicely. One of my favorite parts of Joe's characterization of Professor Blinkov is his frequent flirting with an imaginary female student in his class -- very charming.

Spinal Injection, Reprised

2006-04-18T13:56:00.000-05:00

Turns out that all along the Doc planned a "series" (just 2, thankfully) of epidural spinal injections for my L4-L5 disk. Number 2 occurred yesterday.

Problem with a procedure that produced pain last time is that you anticipate the pain the second time, which is almost worse that the experience itself. This time was quite a bit different. There was one area she (Dr. Yaniv) hit that cause some pain, but not shooting all down the leg like last time.

Another difference was almost immediate improvement in the pain in my hip and lack of pain in the back when bending over. Now starts physical therapy (tomorrow) to try to whip ol' Mr. L4-L5 back into shape.

Stay tuned.

BTW, just 10 days until departure for Kazakhstan!

The Miracle Worker

2006-04-13T07:51:00.000-05:00

One of the features of my Christian Education class at CALTC is to show and discuss the film, The Miracle Worker, the story of how the child, Helen Keller, came to be able to communicate, though she had been deaf and blind since a young child. I show this film because it shows the dedication, creativity, stubbornness of her teacher, Annie Sullivan, and how these characteristics allowed her to become a "miracle worker."

Also interesting about showing this film, is that it is available only in English. So I've prepared a scene by scene synopsis of the film which has been translated into Russian. Then as we watch the film, we pause periodically for the class interpreter to explain what is going on.

Despite the language barrier, the message is clear. It's always amazing to me to see the tears in the eyes of the students at the conclusion of the movie when Annie and Helen finally have the long-awaited breakthrough of understanding. This is a powerful illustration of the frustrations and joys of teaching.

Two versions of this film exist. One from the 60's, I believe, starring Haley Mills, and the newer one from Disney. Either is worth watching.

Where, exactly, is Almaty, Kazakhstan??

2006-04-04T13:33:00.000-05:00

As these two maps show, KZ is bordered by Russia to the north, China to the east, and three of the other "stans" to the south. Almaty (formerly known as Alma Ata, and still known that way for airline schedules) is located in the southeast portion of the country. It's about a 7 hour flight and 5 time zones from Frankfurt, Germany, my European stop-over. I'll be arriving in Almaty at about midnight on Saturday, April 29.

Famous last words: "This will just sting a little"

2006-04-03T21:35:00.000-05:00

Today I had the epidural steriod injection for Mr. L4-L5 Disk. This is an outpatient procedure. Janis drove me down to the surgery center in Austin for the 8:45 procedure. We arrived at 7:30 a little earlier than directed. The procedure itself didn't take long. In the operating room I mounted the operating table, still fully clothed, but with my pants unfastened. The area to receive the needle is slightly below the belt line, so one assistant said he was going to pull my pants down "a little." This was the first lie. I felt by the cold air that "a little" was pretty much all the way that mattered.

The next "little" was the shot to deaden the skin. This stung "a little" as advertised. Then the second lie. "There, that was the worst part of the procedure." As if!

After a minute or so to allow the local to deaden the skin, the doctor began to insert the needle into my back. Prior to this, the other assistant gave me two little star-shaped yellow balls to squeeze because "sometimes there is some discomfort with this procedure." The first hint of this was an odd sensation -- not a sharp pain but uncomfortable all the same -- as, Dr. Esther Yaniv explained, the needle was going through some tight muscles. She assured me there was just a little muscle to go through. Then came the real surprise, a sudden shooting pain down my entire left leg. I remarked to those present that this was uncomfortable -- not in those exact words, not in words at all, in fact, but they got the message. The doctor asked if the pain had subsequently disappeared and I remarked that it had. She seemed to think that this pain was good, because it meant the needle was going the right way. I'm sure glad I didn't stifle my reaction to the pain, which seemingly would have left her wondering if she was doing it right! This charming sensation suddently reoccured a second time and after that it was about all over. She said I might feel the same thing again when she inserted the medicine, and I hope she wasn't too disappointed when it did not!

Soon thereafter I moved onto the provided gurney and to the recovery area. There wasn't much to recover from as my vitals seemed to show, so I was allowed to go on home.

So now time will tell how Mr. Steriod likes living with Mr. L4-L5 Disk. I sure hope they like each other.

Back Problems shouldn't hinder this trip

2006-03-29T17:01:00.000-06:00

Travelling to Almaty, Kazakhstan from Austin, Texas requires two rather long (7-9 hour) flights. Chicago to Frankfort and Frankfort to Almaty. Sitting in coach for that long can be problematic to anyone. But for the past two years I've had chronic lower back pain.

Today I found out the source of the problem.

It's a deteriorating disc between the 4th and 5th Lombar vertebrae -- I saw the MRI pictures -- very elightening. It was immediately obvious to my layman's eyes that "one of these discs is not like the others" (sing along if you remember the song from Sesame Street.) So I'm going in on Monday for a steriod shot to the disc, to be followed by more rigorous therapy to try to squeeze the bulging disk back into shape. The hope is that with the right therapy the deterioration can be managed and surgery averted.

My departure for Almaty is just 30 days away, so I'm hoping to make the most of these 30 days by a) getting as much therapy as possible and b) losing some weight on the Adkins diet. I had already stared on "b" on Saturday and now it seems the two goals go well together. More trips to the doctor, more time in the gym, more protein, no carbs, etc.

Stay tuned for more pain reports.

What one teacher says about teaching this year's class at CALTC

2006-03-21T15:12:00.000-06:00

Yana, the CALTC interpreter reports:

Hi guys!

I've been thinking about various ways to enhance the teaching process and make the weekly course an effective experience both for the students and instructors.

Just about three weeks ago, we had a course taught by someone from Dallas, first-timer teaching here at CALTC...the course turned out to be a real success mostly due to the fact that the instructor could read the class and be flexible enough to adapt to their needs. I'm not asking you to copy that course...but to consider some of the insights he got after teaching here for a week. I asked the instructor of that course (Rich Milne) to write a feedback of some sort that, I hope, will give you some insights into this year's class. That is helpful and "insider's" info...a better insight than I could have given you before the actual course. Here it is:

Teaching in the CALTC Russian track was much like teaching a college class, but with a group of students from a much more varied ethnic range, and much broader age range as well. From kids about 22 to a couple who are early 50s, the class ranges from fairly naive to very connected both to ministry and to life. With a Turkmen, two Uzbeks, and six more or less ethnic Russians, it is also a diverse group ethnically.
I believe they prefer not to be lectured at, but to be involved in class discussion. Role-playing is something they specifically asked for more of, and getting students to participate in answering questions and engaging each other was usually quite easy.
I found them an easy group to talk with, and very willing to try and understand what was being taught. They did not ask a lot of questions without prompting, but questions directed to specific students were always answered.
As a group they very much like stories, both I think for cultural reasons, and because stories cross the ethnic and national divides very well. I read stories from Max Lucado each day, and this may well have been the high point of the day for them. The stories were chosen to compliment what I was teaching, and I would highly recommend this to anyone if you can find stories that relate to what you are teaching. Or make them up.
All of these students have already been involved in some sort of ministry, and all expect to continue on in ministry. So making applications that relate to ways to use the material in ministry contexts would always be helpful to the students, and their grid for relevant trips in that direction as well, I think.
The class environment is quite simple, with nine students sitting in three or four 'groups' that always seem to stay together. The classroom is quiet, and the 50-60 minute teaching periods were well-matched to their attention span. Be aware that there is no lunch as such, but just a longer break around noon. The students get a heavy snack around 11 each morning, and that replaces lunch in the present program.
Several of the students, Yura and Vladimir, seem to have a more academic background than the rest of the students, and they can be a resource for you at times, if you can bring them into the discussion. This will also help them to be more engaged in the class, especially if you happen to be teaching material that they know while the rest of the class is hearing it for the first time.
The more structured interaction you can include the better for this group, and they are very willing to break up into groups and do assignments as a group. If you give homework, realize that they have access to very few resources, and that even Russian is a challenge for several of the students.
All of these students have a sense of humor, but American jokes may or may not be that funny in Kazakhstan. So, enjoy the class, let them have plenty of chances to interact with you, the material, and each other, and the week(s) will be a great success for you and for them!

Please let me know if that was at all helpful...I'm more than open to answer the questions you might have.

Thanks,
Yana

Preparation for Almaty, Kazakhstan

2006-03-11T11:07:00.000-06:00

Today I'm going to try to finalize my teaching materials for my 1-week teaching trip to CALTC in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Since this is my 6th trip and 5th time to teach the Christian Education course, it only requires adjustments to improve of last year's program.

I prepare my own notes and then from them I prepare the student handouts for them to use in following the lectures and completing activities. I also prepare three quizzes over the reading material and a final exam.

Yana, the translator for CALTC, will send me back my materials in Russian so I can modify or create powerpoint slides to accompany the lectures.