Calm before the storm

This past week has been the calm before the normal activity levels return to the campus. Many of the faculty were busy preparing for the start of classes on the 7th, which meant that I was left to my own devises. It made for a nice and relaxing week, although I'm about ready for things to pick up again. :) Last Thursday and Friday, A Rocha Canada celebrated Time Out, which is a time for A Rocha staff to put aside the busy demands of everyday work and enjoy some much-needed time with each other. It allows us to refocus and get refreshed after a busy summer season. Time Out is celebrated at all of the A Rocha centres around the world at the beginning of September.

Then on Saturday Mark and I had the chance to see Measure for Measure, done by Bard on the Beach, which is one of Canada's largest profession Shakespeare Festivals. They generally run numerous performances of four plays from June to September in two tents at Vanier Park by Kitsilano. Neither of us had read the play, but the acting was superb, as usual.

Monday morning, I had the privilege of traveling to the Chilliwack Courthouse for jury selection. It was a interesting process, watching the lawyers choose a jury of 12 plus 2 alternates out of a large group of citizens. I've decided that if I get summoned for jury selection when I am retired, I would greatly enjoy sitting on a jury and letting the mysteries of the courtroom unfold. However, at this stage in my life, sitting on a jury for a 2 week case would disrupt too many other planned activities and I was relieved to be able to exit the courthouse at 11:30 and head home, having done my civic duty.

One of the activities jury duty would have disrupted was a geography lab. This fall, I was approached by the geography department and asked if I would consider teaching one of their first-year geography labs. After some consideration and discussion with my co-supervisors, we decided that I would try it this semester and see how it goes. This is in addition to my regular duties as Field Resources Coordinator, so it will mean a busier schedule for me, but I'm excited at the opportunity. In my fourth year as a student, I worked as a teaching assistant in these labs, so I'm familiar with what is required and I think it will be a good experience for me! So, each week I will help a group of 20 students through a 3 hour geography lab, and hopefully they will leave the class with a greater appreciation for God's creation. Because TWU is a liberal arts university, they require all students to complete a lab science, and geography is often the course of choice for this. This means that not all of the students are excited to be there, and many don't see the point to learning about 'science' - it can be a tough crowd, but we are hopeful that each will gain at least a small appreciation for the complexity of the natural world.

Upcoming activities:
- next week I am scheduled to go across the road to TWU's 57 acres with Glen Carlson from A Rocha Canada. We're planning to do a more indepth survey of the land, which will give TWU more knowledge about the value of this land and hopefully will serve to advise any development plans that may arise in the future.
- BC River's Day Community Festival, Sept 24,. This event is put together by the Township of Langley and the Langley Environmental Partners Society and for the past number of years, my colleague Chris Hall has had a TWU booth there where he runs activities for children. Last year, I joined him there and we had a join TWU/A Rocha booth and I hope to do that again this year.
- Sept 27 it's off to Winnipeg to see Reuben and Heidi in their new home! While there, I'm also attending an A Rocha Canada conference: The Good Life on God's Good Earth, so it's 2 in 1 and I'm excited about both.