Williamsburger

I've decided that's what you call someone from Williamsburg--although I suppose you could call him a Williams-berger or her a Williamsbourgher.

Now I sit inside and hear the storms rolling in, the storms which were supposed to start hours ago and had kept me from taking my bike to Williamsburg for another ride.

Tuesday morning, I met up with my friend, J., who has retired from working as a musician and interpreter in Colonial Williamsburg and still works pretty much a 40-hour work week renovating the farm house he owns. The view from said house, by the way, is fantastic. If you are my facebook friend, a view of the same river is my profile pic. The benefits of J. being retired were fully exploited.



The rest of my visit was pretty restful, minus a nightmare where I had taken my written Quals and then I failed my orals, as my accent was too Swiss. Considering half of our program has the heaviest Bavarian accents, I realized that my nightmare didn't make sense. But there you have it.

Friday morning before leaving, I went for a ride with S., who is an expert horsewoman. Me, I can't even trot, as I've completely forgotten the rhythm. When Mini, sick of my bouncing around, broke into a canter, I freaked out. Canter would have been fine; my reaction to thinking he was going to jump into the Chickohominy or make my trip to Switzerland impossible was a bit excessive. I reigned the poor beast in, and he was more than happy to stop.

And now I'm back in Northern Virginia, shopped out with my mom and getting ready to go to Switzerlandia. Shopping included high heels for my sister's wedding, a dress for running errands (crazy pattern, fun cut), and a basic black top for wearing out so I can stop wearing t-shirts and work blouses to rock concerts). I'll have plenty of work to take with me, and hope to take little day trips to the Walensee, the Alm (high in the mountains where the cows summer....gorgeous), and Zürich. Even if I don't blog about them there, I will be taking photos. Oh! and I'm supposed to meet the new Swiss girl who will be starting our program in the fall, in addition to my student's son, who is in asylum in Zürich. Hopefully my student will pass her citizenship test on Tuesday and she can begin the process of bringing him to the US.

Updates will be few and far between, but I do hope to be able to use my laptop in the regional library, where they don't have wireless, but may be able to hook me in directly. Otherwise, I'll hopefully have enough PDFs saved on the laptop to make critical responses to what I've read that much easier come exam time.

Friday I frantically made copies for reading in Switzerland, and left town just after 1.

Now, I hate driving. Were there a train that went through Nashville, I would travel by train. Sadly, this is not the case. So, I exploited the fact that I have a new friend in Asheville, NC. I decided to drive through Gattlinberg and through the Smokies. I crossed the border between Tennessee and North Carolina just as the sun was going down, which was perfect timing--the border is on the top of the mountain, and on either side you can look out across the mountain range and see nothing but trees.

As I drove down the mountain, I reveled in the green and the hairpin turns. Driving through the gloamy, I made my way to Asheville, past motels and into the darkness.

I made it into Asheville about 2 hours late, and D. was kind about my lateness. And...she saw my bike, and said that I could not leave without going for a ride. While I didn't want to be late to the next place, I agreed--the very idea of riding up a mountain and on the Blue Ridge Parkway was just too attractive.

Now, I didn't have a camera along, but this is pretty much what I saw for most of the ride. Gorgeous? Oh, yes.

I arrived in Charles City late that night, to be greeted by friends who feel more like family. Church on Sunday was a homecoming, and I've been trying to get work done, even though I'd rather visit. Tomorrow, if it doesn't rain, I'll be going for a ride on the Colonial Parkway, which is a bit bumpy, but amazing. My friend J. will drop me in Jamestown, drive to Yorktown, and wait for me there so we can have breakfast on the riverfront.

Reminders of Citizenship

Yes, I know that I posted this in my last blog, but I have to repeat the post because it's such a good reminder for me as I prepare to travel on and ponder the future while trying to live in the present.

Epistle to Diognetus

I have this taped up in my carrel as a daily reminder of what it means to be in this world but not of it, what it is to live for God and not myself:


For Christians are not distinguished from the rest of mankind either in locality or in speech or in customs.
For they dwell not somewhere in cities of their own, neither do they use some different language, nor practise an extraordinary kind of life.
Nor again do they possess any invention discovered by any intelligence or study of ingenious men, nor are they masters of any human dogma as some are.
But while they dwell in cities of Greeks and barbarians as the lot of each is cast, and follow the native customs in dress and food and the other arrangements of life, yet the constitution of their own citizenship, which they set forth, is marvellous, and confessedly contradicts expectation.
They dwell in their own countries, but only as sojourners; they bear their share in all things as citizens, and they endure all hardships as strangers. Every foreign country is a fatherland to them, and every fatherland is foreign.
They marry like all other men and they beget children; but they do not cast away their offspring.
They have their meals in common, but not their wives.
They find themselves in the flesh, and yet they live not after the flesh.
Their existence is on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven.
They obey the established laws, and they surpass the laws in their own lives.
They love all men, and they are persecuted by all.
They are ignored, and yet they are condemned. They are put to death, and yet they are endued with life.
They are in beggary, and yet they make many rich. They are in want of all things, and yet they abound in all things.
They are dishonoured, and yet they are glorified in their dishonour. They are evil spoken of, and yet they are vindicated.
They are reviled, and they bless; they are insulted, and they respect.
Doing good they are punished as evil-doers; being punished they rejoice, as if they were thereby quickened by life....
In a word, what the soul is in a body, this the Christians are in the world.

Welcome!

Welcome!

For those of you who don't read German, I want to explain the purpose of my blog. I've called it "Zigeunerlesen", a word play on the German term "Zigeunerleben", the life of a gypsy and "lesen", to read. Since my late teens, my mother has called my endless moving about and travels my "Zigeunerleben", which I do love. But there's also a longing to be rooted.

This blog will attempt to account for my travels, readings, and musings.

Enjoy!