Had another really busy weekend. On Friday night, Rosalind came up from London to meet up with me and Patrick, and we all went to St. John’s formal hall after Harry’s. It was good to see her again, and she seems to be getting on quite well in London.. Still living with my auntie Jean until December.

On Saturday afternoon, Andy Chiang came over from Hong Kong to spend a few days in Cambridge. He came to church with me on Sunday and gave a short talk to the students trying to recruit people for people to come to China next summer. We also discussed the future of the China trip and had a good time of chat. I’ve been chosen to co-ordinate the whole of the UK/US side of things, which sounds pretty scary but basically involves delegation from what I’ve heard.

Had a good film night on Saturday after some technical issues we watched the Bourne Identity which was really good. Also had a China meeting in the other room at the same time so I was nipping between the rooms. Harry’s on Friday was also good although there seem to be very few blokes around.

Work-wise I had two really good supervisions on Friday. The first was about the essay I wrote on Mark which was the first time I’ve ever been told that I’ve written too much – I must really be an artist now. The second was with Peter Head about my dissertation and it was a really productive time; somehow neither of us really had much of a clue about the internal features of the Psalms of Solomon but by talking it through I have quite a few new research leads and interpretation ideas which I don’t think anyone else has written down about it. Time will tell though; I guess. This week I think I’m mainly going to be trying to write the 5000 words of argument about the Psalms of Solomon but I’m also half way through an essay on Mark’s account of the stilling of the storm and have got another commentary or two to write before next week.

Anyway I have to be up in about 6 hours time for early-morning Greek, so I’d best go now!

Sorry I’ve been really lame with updating this week – I didn’t think my week was particularly exciting; mostly work and so on. However, this weekend was really busy, so I didn’t get a chance to do an update until now.

The only particularly notable event of the week happened on Wednesday evening in CU. I lent my Bible to a second year who’s been to CU once or twice before and I just knew her name really. She somehow looked at the front page, where I’d written my name, gasped and exclaimed “So YOU’RE Mark Zealey!”. Apparently I’m famous somehow…

Anyway, on Friday evening I went to Harry’s as per usual, although there were not many internationals there. I then went home and cooked some scones to see how the recipe worked – they tasted gooood. At about 9, I went round to Widge’s and met the guys from Oxford who were in China with us. We sat around chatting and generally catching up until 23:15 whereupon we went down to the bus station to see if the American girls were arriving on that bus. It turned out that we guessed correctly and they were rather surprised to see us as they stepped off the bus – so surprised in fact that one of them almost left a bag on the bus! We chatted until about 1am and then went our separate ways.

On Saturday, we spent the day in Cambridge. In the morning, I organised a punting trip and we then went to Jesus caf for some brunch. The girls showed us a picture of the “traditional English Breakfast” which they had had on the plane, but it looked nothing like a normal breakfast so we thought we should enlighten them. I had to dash home to give Nat some directions around Cambridge (He’d visited for the day and was going to meet with another friend). I then made some more scones whilst some people went to have a look around several colleges.

We all met up again in the market place and spent some time perusing the stalls and shops around there before coming back to mine for some afternoon tea with scones etc. I then ran off to my friend Lisa’s baptism for a few hours and then rejoined people at the fireworks. The baptism was really good – Lisa is a really lovely Chinese girl who came to Christ a few years ago and is now involved in Christian work amongst internationals in Cambridge.

We all met up at the fireworks, including Nat and Rachel who had also been in China although on the “American” team. The fireworks themselves were amazing, and we had lovely weather for them. This year’s display seemed a little patchy in places – there were several gaps and I’m sure some sort of music would have improved it tremendously, although for a free display it was very good.

After the fireworks; we all went to Newnham where a dedicated team of chefs had been working for most of the afternoon to produce us some amazing Chinese dishes – props to Katie, Daniel and Joel; just call them if you need Chinese catering! We had a little worship session around 12:30 and then went to bed for a few hours.

In the morning, we all went to our various different churches with most of the non-Cambridgeites coming to Eden. Cheng-shi also came along. We all went out for some lunch afterwards at the Cambridge Arms just at the back of Sidney. I’d not realised before, but it was actually quite a nice pub and served very cheap food. We then went back to Widge’s and played some settlers. At 5 we went to StAG for the service in which Katie (a girl from HK who was on our team in China) got baptised. It was very funkey. After that, we said good bye to the Oxford types (who almost missed their bus back); and went to Sidney formal hall. After this, we went back to my room and sat around chatting etc until midnight or so.

On Monday, I went to London with Lillian and Lindsay. We met up with Lillian’s friend there who took us to Buckingham palace for the changing of the guard and then walked to Trafalgar square for lunch on the steps of the National Gallery. After this we walked to the Houses of Parliament and along the river a little. We then went to the British Museum, which was really good although the NT section was closed. I had a little read of the Rosetta stone’s Greek but didn’t get too far.. spaces would really have made the thing easier to read! We came back just in time for the Chinese Christian Fellowship meal and then an awesome sermon by Eden’s very own Marvin. After that, I went to bed at 10 because I was so tired, although I hear from Ruth that several people stayed up with the girls until they left at 3:45 for Gatewick.

Today being Tuesday I got up at 7 for Greek Bible study, but after that I ended up sleeping for the morning and finally just doing work in the afternoon. I’ve been reading books about Mark’s account of the stilling of the storm (Mark 4:35-41) and hopefully I’ll write an essay on it tomorrow. In the evening, Sarah, the CU rep came over and we had a nice chat about CU and China (she had been there in the summer as a tourist). Ruth came over shortly after Sarah had left and we chatted for a while.

Let Zep! were amazing last night – two and a half hours of Zeppelin stuff, and performed really really well. It was quite funny, myself, Zishan and a few other guys were the only students there – the rest were 50 year-olds in leather jackets. My ears are still ringing, it was that good!

Today I met up with Lorna for half an hour, then had the Harry’s prayer meeting and worked for a bit and then met up with Cheng-shi for a bit. In the evening I went to CCCF and Bartow gave a really good talk on Matthew’s version of the rich young man. I also helped Lillian a bit with her essay and found out quite a lot about some of the Daoist philosophy in the process.

Over the past few days I’ve been noticing that the best way to explain something is through pictures. Perhaps not pictures drawn on canvas but pictures written with the pen. Perhaps it’s something to do with the brain having a good imagination and being able to see through the words to the picture they describe, but a written picture is much easier to remember than most other things for me. As well as this, it is much easier to describe to someone with limited English. I guess the description of the picture has a higher amount of redundant information, so even if you do not understand the full explanation of the picture, your mind will fill in the blanks and help you to understand the concept more fully. I remember Terry Pratchett writing something along the lines of “Humans can’t understand the big concept, so they come up with a nice picture to explain the concept. Then, because they understand the picture they think they understand the concept”. However, if you construct the picture correctly and remember that it is only an image and cannot be extrapolated too far, it is a very useful thing!

Sorry for no updates.. I’ve been busy writing an essay on Mark 1:4-15 which I’ve now put up on my website… I got rather involved in it and so it’s ended up being about 4300 words long! Oops.

Some highlights of the week: Tuesday evening I went out to formal with about 30 students from Eden. We all went back to Widge’s new room afterwards. On the way into the hall I heard one of the ‘bouncers’ say to the other “Oi Steve, why’s no-one bringing any wine in?”.

Saw Jens on Wednesday lunch, and met up with Liz, Lydia and Emma on Thursday lunch – I’ve not really seen any of them in far too long.

I met up with Cheng-shi, Rachel and Barney on Thursday afternoon to play badminton for a few hours. That evening, Tabs and myself went round to Liz’s and sat around chatting and messing around for quite a while. Unfortunately I had quite a bad headache which continued all through Friday so I just lay in bed all day reading and finishing my essay. I finished “Treasure Island” as well. At 9:30 in the evening, Ellie gave a wonderful concert with her Flute in the chapel, and Emma and some other people played in it as well. Went back to bed but couldn’t really sleep. Today I’m feeling much better though, which is nice!

Tomorrow evening I’ll be going to see Led Zeppelin tribute band Let Zep at the Junction with Zishan and quite a few other second years. Apparently they’re meant to be really good but I’ll tell you when I’ve heard them.

Also found this comparison of Why DNA is better than perl.

I’ve been working quite hard the past few days; just reading books about the history of the Jews around the age of Jesus, the Greek in Mark’s gospel and also some things for my dissertation. I also got a 1200 page Revelation commentary out of the Div-fac library today for ‘fun reading’.

Friday evening, we had Harry’s as usual and quite a few people came round to my room after the formal hall. Photos here.

On Saturday evening, I went round for a party at Ruth’s new place which is really nice. On Sunday, I went to church then had a few people round for lunch, and slept for the afternoon. Tonight (Monday) I went to Revelation Rock Gospel Choir, which was really good fun as it had been last year. I think I’ll carry on with it again this year.

Just got back from the new Wallace and Grommit film – lots of funny bits in it.

“I put this down to ars’n!” “Arson?” “Yeah, someone Arsin around!”

Not much else got done today apart from some reading. Met up with Liz and Emma for lunch at Pembroke; saw Felicity, David and Mary at WEPG and ran around various libraries and photocopying rooms doing stuff for my dissertation.

Had lectures all morning and then did some work in the library. Did a little work in the afternoon but mostly faffed around. Saw my dad briefly before he went off to formal with his friends. I now have some well-fitting cushions for my window seat thanks to my mother 🙂

Formal was good fun. I’d invited some people I was in China with – Joel, Katie and Mary. It turns out that we were the only 4 people at hall so we had a whole table to ourselves… pictures to follow. We came back to mine afterwards and had a good time just hanging out. Hopefully I’ll do similar with some more guys from China next week.

Didn’t really get upto much during the day of Monday. Harry’s prayer meeting, and then in the evening I went to the Cambridge Chinese Christian Fellowship (CCCF) to see Joel, Daniel and Katie; some of the guys I was in China with. It was quite a shock to go into the hall and see about 50 people there none of whom was white. We started off by having some lovely Chinese food and then had the meeting. It turns out rather strangely that they were to talk about China on that evening and so I had to say something as well. It was good to meet so many Christians from Malaysia and Singapore and see such a loving community.

Today I woke up early and went to Greek Bible study. Then had the usual morning of lectures and reading in the library. I came home and translated Mark 1 and 2 into English… I ended up with about 150 words which I need to learn. Oh dear.

In the evening, I went out to St. John’s college formal hall with Chris Rice, Patrick and Lauren (on my team in China). We were on the BA table which meant we got served first and got some nice extras. Starter was Avacado mashed with prawns and perhaps some salmon. It was actually quite nice. The main course was some Chicken, and then for pudding there was a very weird cake type thing with some morangue stuff on top. Chris’ friend and I had a race as to who could eat it fastest without the use of hands, which I won by about 2 seconds.