Here are some pictures I took at the Pittsburgh Zoo (in Pennsylvania!) in March 2010. I’ve uploaded them to Photobucket, so click here to go see them all.
Category: nature
Back from Mexico
I have returned from the land of banana trees and iridescent butterflies, the land of the Huastec and Nahuatl-speaking Indians, and I am happy to report that the trip went very well, and that my father and I have returned home safely. If you’ve been watching the news lately, you’ll surely know that there’s quite a bit of conflict going on along the border of Mexico right now, and although we did see some drug cartel members along the highway in northern Tamaulipas, we got past unscathed, knowing that God was with us the whole time (although it is rather disturbing to see people with guns in Mexico who are neither military or police). As for the Huasteca Potosina, the area where we spent the week, things are much more peaceful there.
As always, a week was not enough, but I was just thankful that I was able to return there again after two and a half years absence. It was a time of renewing old friendships and making new ones, and I was also able to practice speaking Nahuatl. Most of my attempts at carrying on a conversation ended when the person with whom I was speaking uttered a sentence that went past my ears uncomprehended, and then I would resort to Spanish. I probably could have done better, but I am pleased with my progress, and of course everyone was tickled pink that I was learning their language. The Huastec dialect remains a mystery to me, but as we met a good number of Huastec people on this trip, they endeavoured to teach me some of their language as well. It is a Mayan language, entirely different from Nahuatl, and it has a very unique sound, full of glottal stops and ejective consonants. Read More
Current Language Mission – Nahuatl
Greetings, faithful readers! I have returned to my native continent, and I decided just now to take the time to write up a real live blog post. You see, those photos and short posts from Europe did not freely flow from the fount of creativity, but were the result of assigned writing for one of my classes. This did not detract from their quality entirely; some were quite good in my own estimation, but others were a little forced, and would have gone unwritten were they not assigned. For these latter I apologize, but I hope to improve my habits so that I can have time to write down the things that I am truly inspired by.
At this moment I am currently sitting on a bench next to the driveway at our north-central Texas home. When I left Belgium it was cold and damp, but the fall leaves were lovely. When I arrived home, Autumn was still in the process of putting on her garb, and I am glad to report that she is now fully arrayed in her customary splendour. The leaves are turning all sorts of colours, the prickly pears are laden with bright red tunas, and the evening sunsets top it all off in a great show that mankind can never replicate. Meanwhile, I am preparing for my next travel destination: eastern San Luis Potos铆, Mexico–which will prove quite a change from northern Europe. Read More
Difference
I don鈥檛 know what I was expecting to find when we arrived in the pine forests of southern Germany. My father had told me of their beauty, and I had seen pictures from that region, but I had imagined that European forests, trees, and mountains were somehow different from the trees and mountains I know on my native continent. And thus it was that I was surprised to find striking similarity between the two when I walked beneath those high branches and climbed along the mountains. Every pine tree reminded me of the pine forests of New Mexico, and the high Alpine peaks made me think of the Rocky Mountains that I love so well. But how is it that these mountains are so similar to mountains thousands of miles away, on a completely different continent?
As I pondered this, I considered how the Creator鈥檚 hand may be seen in both places, and the similarities point to a common Creator. Other things came to mind as well: although there are a number of cultural differences between Europe and North America, the fellowship between brothers and sisters in Christ is the same no matter what side of the ocean I am on, and this familiarity is comforting to me.
Ghostly Forest
Some more photos from Chickasaw State Forest, Hardeman County, Tennessee (February 2010)
