Random Ramblings and Ramifications

The Greek trip blessing all began with Brad being invited to teach for a week-long intensive course at the Greek Bible College near Athens.  Here is my man in action, along with Jeff Baldwin, our friend and Brad's interpreter for the week. 

These are all Brad's students for the week, along with the fam and Jeff Baldwin, who also happens to be the Academic Dean for the Greek Bible College.

Jeff and the students presented Brad with this bust of Aristotle for his week here...they also gave the kids replicas of marbles from ancient Athens...really cool...

I love this shot here on the campus.  Brad and Victoria are talking with Mrs. Helen, who was the unofficial Green Family Coordinator while we were there.  She loved on us, spoiled us, and kept us abreast of things all week...she was SUCH a blessing!!

The kids snagged this shot...LOTS of compact cars in Greece.  Point of interest about this type of car is that they are so small that they do not have to parallel park in such parking spaces...they can just pull in straight to the curb! 

The primary religion in Greece is Greek Orthodox, and this Greek Orthodox Church is just down the street from the Greek Bible College.  Only 0.3% of the population is evangelical. 

Inside, Greek Orthodox Churches are very ornate, as is this one, with many icons and other decor...

Our dear friend Myrto, whom we met in Cambridge, treated us to English tea one afternoon at her place, and Victoria helped her prepare the whole affair, even going to the bakery with her.  Myrto is a complete delight, and served our tea on china she brought back from Cambridge, and served us baklava and other irresistable Greek pastries.  We laughed and reminisced of our days in Cambridge...pure joy...

One of our fondest memories is eating dinner and spending the evening with the Mark Doebler family.  Mark is Dean of Students and a professor at the Greek Bible College, and does an outstanding job leading worship there as well.  His daughter Christina and Victoria are the same age and really hit it off...

While the girls were playing with the hamster...

the boys were outside having a massive Nerf gun fight.  My boys felt right at home...next to Caleb is Phillip Doebler and the blonde on the right in the white t-shirt is his brother Stephan.  They were great guys, and really made the boys feel welcome.  I learned that Greek and American 10-yr-olds and 12-yr-olds are VERY much the same...

Half of Catarina Doebler, Mark's wife, is seen in this photo...she prepared a FEAST for us, and was such a joy to get to know...did I mention she prepared FOUR different desserts for us?!?

Here's the adult half of the table, along with the two youngest Doebler boys...their family of seven seemed quite normal to us, but is not the norm at all in Greece, where the average number of children per family is 1.2...

 These slippers win for favorite new custom...while we were visiting the Doeblers, we slipped off our shoes, as is the custom, and they gave us slippers to wear around the house while we were there.  Our toes were so warm and toasty.  (Brad is in the pair that is stepping on my pair. :) )  We're thinking of incorporating this into winter life in Tennessee when friends come a'calling...

Shepreth Wildlife Park, Playground Edition

So, one of the most celebrated aspects of our day at SHEPRETH WILDLIFE PARK actually had nothing to do with wildlife.  Into this unassuming cafe, positioned between the lemurs and the lynx, we ventured to thaw our frozen-in-place appendages, when what to our wondering eyes should appear, but a magnificent room, all Nerf and good cheer!  Yes, we had just discovered the most elaborate indoor Nerf playground we had ever seen.  It was astonishing...like the first time you discover bubble gum inside your Blow-Pop...  Here, Daniel and Victoria are bombarding Caleb (armed ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROOM with his own launcher) with balls from these impressive Nerf cannons! Thus the war began...twas splendid. :)  

What would a playground be without a zip line across the "remains" of a sunken ship?!?  Do you see that Caleb's head is pointing DOWN in this shot--that is his HEAD with the black cap on.  Heaven help me.

...or without an enormous pirate ship, complete with tunnels, secret passageways, slides, and gangplanks?!?

So, all in all, memories were made here...the only thing that could have made it any sweeter is if friends like you had been with us...I mean that...

Now, on to some other very important breaking news:  have you ever had one of those moments with your children when you think, "Well done, our training and teaching are paying off!"?  I had one of those moments recently.  We were trekking thru town one day when the children, all three, grabbed me, and said, "MOM!!  LOOK!!"...and then proceeded to usher me into this shop.  "What in the world?!", thought I, and as I turned around, I realized that my remarkably astute children had ushered me into...the CAMBRIDGE FUDGE FACTORY!  I was so proud.  They ARE listening.  Living with me is making a difference.  :) 

This reminds me of a funny story, which I'll share after these mouth-watering shots of

 the Cambridge's own "Fudge Kitchen":

So,  here's the story.  Over here folks just don't understand home schooling, which I'm doing with the children.  Plus, in general, the British just don't take their kids out and about with them as much as Americans do.  These two things combined have resulted in some very confused, and quite frankly, disapproving glances, as my kids are the ONLY children we ever see during the day around town, when all other children are in a "proper" school.  So, an astute ally suggested that when I am asked about the children (which is almost daily), that I should speak language the English would understand, like, "these are the Green children, and I am their private tutor. Their father is studying abroad for several months, and they are in my care."  Then smile confidently and politely, as if to say, "any other questions?"   I'm seriously considering pulling this off sometime...Brad is worried...he knows I just might...:)

Saturday with the Kynes

Folks here have been/are being so kind to us...take for instance Will and Vanessa Kynes.  They are a delightful young couple from the States, expecting their first baby, and he's working on his PhD here at Cambridge.  One of our first Saturdays here they invited us over for brunch, and then spent the entire afternoon showing us an "insider's view" of Cambridge.  Oh, the fun we had!  This was our first stop:  King's College Chapel.  This is the most visited site in Cambridge, with over 230,000 visitors per year.  The chapel was the brainchild of King Henry VI, and was begun in 1446.  The chapel was finally completed in 1547--101 years--and many kings (hence the name "Kings College")-- later!  It took 30 years to install the stained glass windows--26 breathtaking sets-- alone!

Remember how I shared about all the symbols on all the buildings...I'll give you just a couple from this back entrance to King's College.  Do you see all the roses just in this small section of the building--see if you can find five clearly shown...they are Tudor Roses, which are the traditional emblem of England.  They represent when Henry Tudor took the crown of England from Richard III in battle, thus bringing about the end of the War of the Roses between the House of Lancaster (whose badge was a red rose) and the House of York (whose badge was a white rose).  On his marriage, Henry adopted the Tudor Rose badge conjoining the White Rose of York and the Red Rose of Lancaster.  These Tutor Roses are ALL OVER the old city.

OK, this is the front of Trinity College.  Do you see King Henry VIII, in statue form, standing above the great gate?  Well, he originally had his sword up there with him, but the students kept stealing it as a prank, so finally a chair leg was placed there instead...hasn't been stolen since :)...  Also, note the two sets of  doors--one is much larger than the other--any guesses as to why?  I thought perhaps one was for royalty and one for commoners, but actually, originally, these were two separate colleges, King's Hall and Michaelhouse, but King Henry VIII merged them forming Trinity College (Cambridge's largest).  He wanted to be remembered for the greatest college, thus his statue over both doors.  Also do you notice the six crests below his statue?  These represent his 6 children, but one of the crests is missing...any idea why?  Because that child died very young.

On to St. John's College, where Will Kynes, our friend and tour guide for the day, is a student.  Only if you are a student at St. John's can you get the key to go in this very small, obscure door...and beyond this door is a dark, steep, narrow, winding staircase, complete with slit windows and 203 steps to the top of... a real tower from the Middle Ages!  It was SO much fun to climb with three children with very active imiginations!  The dark, dank, and somewhat scary climb to the top made medieval Europe come to life--it was FASCINATING!!

Here we are at the top--you may notice two things right away...King's College Chapel in the background, and the LARGE openings all around where we are standing, thru which any one of the children could have very easily fallen.  I was "quite fussy" up there, which is a British way of saying, "scared to death" for the children.  Even as I type this, my hands are sweating as I remember how I was terrified that one misstep and someone could go thru--AAHH!!  Needless, to say, we did NOT go ANYWHERE near the edge!!  And here's another view from up there...you can somewhat see the rolling countryside just outside Cambridge.

Finally, we ended our day the same way we began...by crossing the River Cam over one of the famous bridges...CAM river, famous BRIDGEs...thus the name Cam-bridge...Cambridge...what a grand day...we are so thankful to be here...