Well, time seems to pass at an extraordinary rate. As I read over my last Blog post I notice how much has happened since (and also the number of misplaced apostrophes, and I as someone who likes to point them out on signs find this disgusting).
Everyone is remarkably tired at the moment. The mechaical movement of spoon-to-mouth at breakfast is becoming slower, eyelids drooping and at least one student falling asleep on the Common Room sofas (and did I see someone nod off briefly in a lecture too?)
Good job half term weekend is on its way. If you can call it that. College closes down from 4pm Thursday to 4pm Monday. No meals or services, free reign to go offsite and visit loved ones. EXCEPT if you happen to have Oxford lectures over that time, as the University don't have a half term, and us poor MThs have a seminar on Friday morning. Woe is us.
Still, we'll have the chance to hop over to the Westcountry at least for a few days. All being well, we're going for dinner with Tristan and Andrew on Friday, brunch with Lizzie, Tom and Sazzle on Saturday morning, Emma, Emily and Tabitha on Saturday afternoon, my family on Sunday and Paul's on Monday. By happy coincidence my Mum's birthday falls on Saturday so it's all worked out rather well.
I went to Cutteslowe on Thursday night and genuinely enjoyed myself. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but what I got was a group of vibrant, chatty, interesting young teenagers. We spent the evening playing with clay, hence the title of this post, making our favourite football teams, pop stars etc. and trying to guess what others had made. Yes, the artist N Dubz did come up and, yes, they wowed at my lack of knowledge of popular culture, but as it transpired that they knew not of N Sync I considered it stale mate. Touché, children!
In other news (because, looking back at my previous Blog posts, I simply have to start a paragraph in this way) I've decided to stand for Common Room President. Yes, I know, I know, it's not exactly the role you'd see me in. But I realised that, actually, I quite like organising things. And I'd really like to be instrumental in the way the college is run. And I've spent so much of my life watching other people do these things. So, why not?
Still, the three others going for it are all rather super gentlemen, I'd put some fairly long odds on me winning. Voting is today, by the way. And I'll find out the results tonight. I'd be genuinely astonished if I won, but I'm actually proud of myself for going for it, if that doesn't sound too cheesy.
*Finish, Hannah, finish the post before it really does sound too cheesy!*
I've learnt a new phrase. "Up the candle." A jovial way of asking what your churchmanship is, "how far up the candle are you?"
It strikes me that people at Cuddesdon sit all over the candle. If 1 is flags and 10 is birettas, there's a big clump of ordinands around 5 to 7 (middle church, liturgical, liberal) and another around the 8 and 9 (high church, modern catholic) but still a respectable number sub 5. With the numbers not in any way reflecting any sort of hierarchy, of course.
If you were to map the church's I've attended regularly for a significant amount of time (6 months plus) I think it would look something like this; 4-3-2-7-6. And since moving to Oxford I've attended, and enjoyed, St Mary Magdalen (a solid 9). So I've had experience with most types of church, even if some experiences aren't particularly recent.
I'd tentatively assess St Andrews, from my experience this morning, at around 3. Although, saying that, they have 4 services a day. 8am BCP, 9.30am family worship (the one we went to), 11.15am Eucharist (more liturgical, I'm told) and an evening service which is on the lively end. Is this, I am asking myself, a church which sets out to appeal to people of all kinds of churchmanships? We shall see!
I enjoyed this morning. Very different to the Cuddesdon services I've become accustomed to over these last 3 weeks, but I think I'll grow to appreciate the contrast. Certainly, the people were very friendly, and that bodes well for a positive 2 terms of learning and growing.
Yesterday, I matriculated! Yup, sounds like being put through a mangle, but it was actually quite nice. Dress up in silly clothes, stand in a queue outside the Sheldonian for half an hour, enter the Sheldonian for 15 minutes, hear some Latin and some English, go to the pub. Bish, bash, bosh, I'm a fully matriculated Oxford postgrad. Who'd have thought? Of course, I don't have my student card yet, because my application hasn't been fully processed, but hey ho...!
The MTh is somewhat fulfilling it's reputation as the lazy person's course. While the BA's and BTh's are writing 2,000 words a week, our first essay is due in Easter. And it's only 7,000 words. Now you'd have thought that would mean I've got lots of time on my hands, but somehow the formational side of training seems to be taking rather a lot of time and effort. Mission and Ministry, Pastoral Studies, Spirituality, Theological Reflection, Listening, Liturgy, Introduction to Worship... All separate modules, all requiring pre-reading.
Talking of, I've some reading to do for Mission and Ministry tomorrow. So long!
In a week in which I've spent 8-and-a-half hours in church, rung a bell while wearing a cassock, parted with £40 of my hard-earned cash to purchase a bizarre outfit known as subfusc and eaten a kipper for breakfast for the first time ever, it's hard to know where to start...
Placement. Yes. I'll start with that.
I'm feeling both delighted and terrified, as I've got exactly what I asked for. You may remember me musing back in May that a large evangelical church on a Sunday and some form of Youth Group mid-week would provide me with a lot of learning opportunities. And so I have been instructed, for the next two terms, to attend St Andrews Church, North Oxford - http://www.standrewsoxford.org/ - which, from its website at least, looks pretty vibrant. For the mid-week element I'll be involved in its outreach to Youth in the neighbouring parish of Cuttislowe - the video on their website says a bit more about what they are doing in this area of the city, and is worth a watch.
I think the Cuttislowe project will be an immense learning curve, but I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in. Certainly, looking at the video, these young people's lives would seem to be a world away from my life here at college, living in a nice flat, eating free food and going to Oxford University. I'm getting comfortable in the friendly larkiness of Holy Hogwarts, and I have a funny feeling this is just the placement I need. These people have a lot to teach me.
In other news, I somehow found myself drawn to attend INTENSIVE GREEK on Thursday. Yes, it deserved capitals. The BA students have to do it, they are examined on it, but as an MTh I have no requirement to do Greek at all. However, as I managed to skillfully duck it in my first degree I thought it would be useful to sit in on the lectures, just to get some basic knowledge of the language in which the New Testament is written. I've only been to one session, but I really enjoyed it. It's a nice change from normal lectures, gets my brain thinking in a different way. And I actually shrieked in delight tonight at the kitchen table when I managed to write out the whole Greek alphabet correctly from memory.
It's been an incredibly intense week. It's taken all my energy to work out where I'm supposed to be and when! I've been into Oxford three times for different MTh inductions and it's been pretty tiring. Lots of information, new people. But it was nice to meet the people I'll be studying alongside in the MTh group - a healthy mix of Anglicans, Catholics and Baptists. I'm looking forward to some good discussions.
But thank goodness it's the weekend. Today we drove up to Leamington to have lunch with Ellie, which was lovely, and then came back here to do not-very-much all evening. From now on, Saturday is going to be my only completely free day. Hurrah for Saturday.
I've been at college for over a week, and it's hard to condense how I feel other than to say that I feel just about the most privileged person in the world at the moment.
I'm living in this small, odd community of people of all ages and from all backgrounds. I get to spend my time in a stunning old building of stone and stained glass, set in the middle of the countryside. There are clubs and activities ranging from choir to cricket to books and debating. I get fed amazing food in a dining hall with long tables and oil paintings on such a regular basis and in such quantities that it would make Dr Gillian McKeath sick. I'm learning church history and liturgy, listening skills and pastoral psychology. I'm getting some proper time to reflect on my own spirituality. Someone is paying for me to do an Oxford University Masters for goodness sake. And attending church twice a day (or four times, if you want!) isn't something you do on top of your everyday life, everything stops for it.
Extraordinarily. Privileged.
Someone described it as 'boarding school without the bullying' and I can just see what they mean. I sense a slightly boarding school undertone here, as one might expect with a number of recent graduates from good Universities. And many people seem to enjoy dressing up, as last night's 'cassocks and canopes' showed (and I have to admit, I enjoyed it too.) But that Oxfordyness doesn't define the community, as I fear it might if we were in Oxford proper. It is contained and tempered by the people who really aren't interested in that sort of thing. The whole community is very friendly. You can sit next to anyone at dinner and have a good conversation. I'm sure that the usual friendship groups will emerge, as they do in any community, but I don't think they will be as cliquey as you would find in most Universities or workplaces.
Reflecting on what it is to live here, I can't help think about the old Residential vs Local Course debate that I was having with myself 18 months ago. Basically, there are two ways of training to be a vicar. The traditional method is what I am doing, moving away to a self-contained college to train full time for 2 or 3 years. The second is to train locally part-time. This is what I was intending to do originally, to keep my house and my job, and to go to the University (but a 10 minute drive from my house!) one evening a week, and a few weekends a year, for training which, I think, generally takes 3 or 4 years.
I know there are certain schools of thought which believe one method to be a better way of training than another, but my view is that they are equally valid. The advantage of the first is that you are able to absorb yourself in training for a short amount of time, which forms a clear break between being lay and being ordained. The biggest advantage of the latter is that you are training to be a priest while being in the real world.
So what I've been reflecting on is how I maintain the real world perspective when most of my day-to-day conversations will be with people-who-are-training-to-be-vicars or spouses-of-people-who-are-training-to-be-vicars or people-that-are-actually-already-vicars.
Placements will help. I wrote a little while ago that I am to do a Sunday church placement and a midweek non-church placement in my first year. Yesterday, we new intake of students went to see three of the forty or so churches which are offering placements. Blackbird Leys - a local ecumenical partnership in a suburb of Oxford, Berinsfield - a village with a number of employment and housing problems, and Dorchester Abbey - a beautiful former-abbey with significant tourist footfall.
I've been thinking for a while that I'd like to go to a very evangelical church, in order to get a contrast from the liberal middle-church I have become accustomed to over the last few years. This continues to be my preference, but I've come to think that I will benefit from being a part of any church community. Just to spend time in a different environment, with people with lives, jobs and priorities outside of church, will be immensely beneficial to me.
And now, to voice class!
So, I'm here. It's started! Nearly 62 hours have passed since the long-awaited Thursday-22nd-September-at-3.30pm and I'm still alive!
On Thursday we gathered in the Common Room at 3.30pm as per the plan. It was a very shoulder-to-shoulder affair, 38 students starting this year along with spouses and children, and several continuing students and their families. And the Common Room really isn't that big.
After drinks, we went to the Parish Church for a music practice. Slightly bizarre, they admitted, but it's just to get us used to singing the responses in the service. This was followed by a service itself (hurrah!) In which the Principal preached and the Vice-Principal presided.
Then - food! Brilliant! This is what I was looking forward to (the service and meeting people too of course, but I do like my food...!) It was a buffet like you have never seen before. Not like some buffets, which repeat themselves (oh, here's another bowl of green salad...) but one that went on and on and on with a hundred different dishes. And then - pudding. A selection of puddings! This will not be good for my weight...!
After the buffet, more drinks in the Common Room, then I went to bed pretty early. Amazingly, even starting at 3.30pm, all the meeting (and eating) had really taken in out of me.
And I needed an early night. The next day, Friday, I was up at the chapel at 7.30am!!!! for Morning Prayer. Which would turn out to be the first of four church services of the day (Morning Prayer, Eucharist, Evening Prayer and Compline - luckily or unluckily, depending how you see it, only two of them are compulsory.) Friday was really interesting. The morning sessions were about the history of the college and practicalities of college life, and the afternoon sessions were about the social side of things. A bit of being bombarded with information, but all interesting stuff.
Yesterday was a rest day, and I needed it. We went to a drinks thing in the gardens of the college for an hour in the middle of the day (yes... more drinks... I know!) but there were no services to go to, and we didn't eat any meals in the college (although, amazingly, we could if we had wanted to!) I managed to speak to the Principal at the drinks thing, who confirmed that the MTh signing-up thing is all sorted now, so that's a real relief.
This morning we had a welcome service at the Parish Church followed by a drinks reception and a buffet lunch, now Paul is asleep on the sofa and I am typing this. Oh, and we had our photos taken for the Common Room wall. I am grinning inanely in ours.
So things are going OK so far. If I'm honest, I'm not a fan of the mix-and-mingle sort of social events. The ones where you move around the room with a glass of wine, making eye contact, asking the three standard questions "so, where do you come from? Where are you living here? What course are you doing?" I think I'm getting better at those sort of occasions, but I don't think they're particularly good for getting to know people, names and details blur into one! I think it's when you really start doing things together, learning alongside one another, that you really start to gel. Apparently there are 6 other people doing the MTh, although bizarrely I've only met 4 of them, and I'm sure I've met everyone! They all seem really nice. In fact, everyone seems lovely. I think it's going to be a good couple of years.
Weirdly, Paul, who hates big groups of people he doesn't know, seems to have been largely OK with all this. He fears these sorts of events, and then when he gets to them he's fine. He always seems to find someone he has a common interest with, and goes off chatting like mad. He's playing cricket tomorrow, 1st years vs 2nd/3rd years. I think he'll really enjoy it.
I don't know what we'll do this afternoon. Chill out probably. 7.30am again tomorrow. And every weekday. For ever and ever and ever........
Duh-duh-duh-duhhhhh! Duh-duh-duh-duh-duhhhh! Duh-duh-duh-duhhhhh! (The final Count-down...) Duh-duh-duh etc.
Oh, I am in a good mood!
Paul is now into the second week of his course and it seems to be going well. He's only in 9am-3pm 3 days a week, so he'll have plenty of time to be involved here at the college as well. He brought home some Maths homework last night and I tried to give him a hand with it, before realising that I can't do long multiplication and division myself! Thank goodness I got a B in Maths when I did, as any proficiency in the subject appears to have drained out of me over the last 10 years!
As one thing goes to plan, another doesn't. One of the administrators from Cuddesdon phoned me on Thursday to say that they had forgotten to sign me up to Oxford University. The Principal here had been in touch with the Director of Faculty for Theology who said they would consider my application if I did it really, really quickly. So I made an application to the University over the weekend. A speedy application which involved having to persuade 3 people to do my references, speedily! I don't tend to let these things get to me, ke sara sara etc. and I've a feeling that I won't be penalised for something that wasn't my error, but we'll see.
Today's been an interesting day full of good things and bad things. More good things than bad things I'd say.
GOOD THING! Spent a few hours with Kate in which we managed to consume 3 cups of tea each.
BAD THING! College emailed to say that Paul's Theology course is now no longer free but will cost £100 per term.
GOOD THING! Finally got common room keys so I can get into the main college building!
BAD THING! Dougal got chased by a dog.
GOOD THING! Some pictures for the wall have arrived in the post and look beautiful.
BAD THING! Oxford Uni emailed to say they are still waiting for one reference and want it quickly.
So there you go.
Tomorrow it is then. Tomorrow IS the 22nd September.
Life will never be the same again....
So, I'm within a fortnight of launching into term and so far I have 28 ordinands, 24 partners and 34 children on my list of people I have met. There are lots of crossings-out as I change names and assign people to different partners because I couldn't quite work out who-was-with-who the first time I met them. Quite how the list will look when all 70-ish ordinands are here I do not know!
There's a feeling of excitement in the air. Paul starts his course on Wednesday with me starting a week on Thursday. And when my course starts it's not just the course I'll have to occupy me, it'll be 7.30am morning prayer, breakfast, lunch and dinner in college, evening prayer and compline and all manner of community activities. Although I've been living here a month somehow I feel like I'm not at college yet, and really I'm not.
I wonder whether the 22nd September will mark 'it'? You know, when I started thinking seriously about this whole ordination malarky in April 2010 I remember wondering how I would cope with all of the waiting for 'it'. And what was I waiting for? The BAP? I certainly didn't have a feeling of having reached my goal after the BAP. Finishing my job? No. Moving here? No, somehow not. So maybe when term starts I'll have that feeling of "hurrah - I've started Theological College - this is what I've been thinking and praying about for the last 17 months!" Or maybe I won't. Maybe that's what the call to ordained ministry is, a moving forward towards something, to go wherever God intends for you, but without that victory moment of sticking your flag on the moon "I've done it", a call to be rather than to achieve.
*Gets down from philosophising perch*
So, what have I done this week? On Monday we went into Oxford intending to go to the Ashmolean but it was closed so we had lunch instead. Then Kate texted me in the evening to see if I wanted to go to the pub so I rambled over to find 20 or so Cuddesdonians there, which was very nice indeed. On Tuesday we didn't do much, but then on Wednesday we went to the Oxford Natural History Museum and the Pitt Rivers Collection which was ever so interesting. A properly well thought out museum with artifacts from around the world, and displays you could touch as well as those in glass cabinets. Yesterday we walked to Wheatley and back which is a 3 mile round trip so a good leg-stretcher, and today we went swimming. Altogether a very enjoyable week.
Oh, we got some good news today. Paul has been intending to do the Cuddesdon School of Theology and Ministry, the evening course which runs here on a Thursday. It normally costs £200 per term so we had budgeted £1,800 for him to do it for 3 years, which is no small amount of money any way you look at it. Anyway, today all the spouses got a letter from the college to say that this course was going to be offered to spouses of college students free!
Free I like. Very much.
I went to Cutteslowe on Thursday night and genuinely enjoyed myself. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but what I got was a group of vibrant, chatty, interesting young teenagers. We spent the evening playing with clay, hence the title of this post, making our favourite football teams, pop stars etc. and trying to guess what others had made. Yes, the artist N Dubz did come up and, yes, they wowed at my lack of knowledge of popular culture, but as it transpired that they knew not of N Sync I considered it stale mate. Touché, children! 
