A Trip to Durham and Other News

Things are a little bit less exciting now that we've settled into the routine of work and school... don't get the wrong idea, though, things are still pretty exciting.

1. I got a new desk at Tyndale! I'd like to thank Desk #52 for three great weeks of ideas and inspiration; however, in the end, it wasn't meant to be. Desk #52 just didn't have enough space for me to work efficiently and awesomely. In particular, Desk #52 didn't have the surface area required for the strategic placement of Huge LCD Monitor. So I asked the librarian, very nicely, if I could move to a larger desk perhaps should something happen to open up. Well, as it turns out, someone had to drop out and I got their desk (too bad for them, though). So now Desk #49 is my new home in Tyndale, complete with Huge LCD Monitor, a double helping of Sweet Book Stand, and some pimped out extra lighting courtesy of Ikea's lamp section. I may have to alter the acknowledgements section of my thesis, sorry Desk #52.

2. Candice got a job at Tyndale House and she's doing awesome! It's really perfect because we are meeting the same people and getting to see each other throughout the day. Plus, it's really flexible, so we still have time to do the things we like to do.

3. Last weekend we decided to rent a car and take a trip to visit some friends in Durham. As it happens, there's an OBU grad (Sarah) at Tyndale and there are two OBU grads (Orrey and Kristi) who just moved to Durham - so we had a bit of a Bison reunion. Our friend Sarah went with us, and we all stayed with Orrey and Kristi, who are wonderfully gracious hosts... the kind of hosts who make brownies for you and don't mind you eating their cereal at midnight :). It was a four hour drive (yuck), but with Sarah to keep us company, it was really a breeze. The highlight of the trip was definitely our stormy adventure at the North Sea (sounds like a Nancy Drew novel, doesn't it... The Stormy Adventure at the North Sea). We drove from Durham to Tynemouth, a nice coastal village with great views of the North Sea. As soon as we arrived, however, it began to rain... no big deal, we came prepared with our rain jackets. Then as we approached the water, it began to rain harder. Then we decided we would walk out onto the Battery to reach the lighthouse at the end. Here's a visual of that walk, by the way, this is at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon:


As we walked further and deeper into the gray squall of North Sea, we fortified our hearts against the waxing might of the storm, wind, and waves, determined above all to reach the symbol of hope that lie at the end of our trek and which had become fixed in our vision so that we could see little else... that is to say, we were freakin' cold and wet but we kept walking anyway.

The irony is that after we spent 45 minutes in the cold rain, we finally got back into the car to leave when the storm blew over, the clouds parted, and the sun shone brightly over green hills and a clear ocean. Here's a few panoramas from the same day, same place, less than an hour later:

Needless to say, after the storm blew over, we had a wonderful time enjoying the sun and the sea.

Ode to Chocolate Chip Cookie: Possibly the Beginning of a PhD Thesis?

Tonight I am especially pleased with myself. “Why is that, Collin?” you might say. Well I’ll tell you. I am doing one of my favorite things in the world: eating freshly baked chocolate chip cookies with a glass of milk.

Since it’s hard for me to explain what Chocolate Chip Cookie means to me, I’ll try to describe my experience the best way I know how – awesomely. The day I began to love Chocolate Chip Cookie was a spiritual experience. In fact, one might say that Chocolate Chip Cookie is a lot like Jesus. This is my testimony:

I can still remember the first time I really let the love of Chocolate Chip Cookie into my life. I was in high school, and I had certainly eaten my share of cookies. And a lot of them were good cookies; I mean, we had a great time, you know… I remember this one cookie……….. anyway, that’s not the point. The point is that I was jaded… like so many people these days, I had turned away, chasing after store bought substitutes that would never be able to fill the Chocolate-Chip-Cookie-shaped void that was inside me.

People had told me before about how awesome Chocolate Chip Cookie was… but I didn’t believe. I thought, “Maybe that’s good for them, but that stuff’s just not for me.” But you know, you can hear a lot about Chocolate Chip Cookie your whole life, but it takes an experience with the real thing to change you for good…..

Alright, so you get the point. I think one thing that is really comforting about these cookies tonight is that they make me feel more at home. When I was a senior in high school, I have fond memories of baking 2-3 (sometimes 4) Schwan’s chocolate chip cookies every night before bed and then watching Golden Girls with my mom (shout out to mom, woohoo!). Then when Candice and I lived in Ada, we loved baking cookies with people we love at our house late at night. And in Waco, I’m pretty sure Matt Fulmer had his share of cookies when for one reason or another we ended up spending every night together for about three weeks. And here we are in Cambridge, baking the same cookies :)… some things never change, and they really shouldn’t change.

On top of all this, I was able to find some really good chocolate chips at one of the bigger supermarkets (good chocolate chips are hard to come by). And I’m having my cookies tonight with a brand new milk that I’ve never tried before; it is heavenly. Just to give you an idea… 2% milk means it has 2% milkfat (or that it’s only 2% good). Whole milk in the US has 3.3% milkfat, and in the UK is has 4%. However, I was able to find fresh, non-pasteurized, organic milk with 5.4% awesomeness. “BAM!” ladies and gentlemen, we just kicked it up a notch.

Shenanigans and goings on...

So life has pretty much returned to normal since we've been back from our trip, and we are settling into more of a routine. I get up in the morning and basically just spend most of the day in the library researching the exciting, cutting edge field that is New Testament Biblical Studies. Right now I need to find a suitable topic for an 80,000 word PhD thesis... any ideas? I pitched an idea about muffin pans to my supervisor... he said it was a great idea but that I should probably direct my research in a less retarded direction... he's very gentle.

And just in case you're wondering what my life is like in the library all day... I've included a picture of my desk, which I lovingly call "Desk #52". It's long been said that some of the best theses in all of Cambridge have been written at #52, so I've decided that in the 'Acknowledgements' section of my thesis, I'm going to give a special shout out to "the one who bore the weight of my books through all the early mornings and late nights, my inspiration, Desk #52."

In other news, we have something very special to announce (no, it's not that and stop asking): we found a muffin pan! We were in TK Maxx the other day looking for decorative accessories for our living room, when we stumbled across a real treasure :)... now we can make awesome blueberry muffins without them turning into one big blob (with six paper muffin cups baked in somewhere).

And finally, Candice and I had the most amazing time last weekend with some new acquaintances at dinner. I was telling them a little bit about Oklahoma, and at some point in Oklahoma's history I mentioned that there was a land run and I told them that this is where the phrase "Boomer Sooner" comes from. A table of absolutely bewildered faces stared back at me. "What's a 'boomer whatsit'?" One of them asked, and a bit of hilarity ensued as I tried to explain where this comes from and what it is. Needless to say, I was relentlessly teased the rest of the night... "Oh this pudding is great... it's a real soonahboomah." "Oh, I'm sorry that happened to you today, what a soonahboomah." The best part about this, however, is that now, every time we see (or text) any of these people, they all throw in a nonsensical reference to a boomahsoonah, or a soonahboomah. I personally think we've started a trend, so if I hear the host on BBC Radio 2 say that tonight's football match promises to be quite a soonahboomah, I'll let you guys know it's become a national craze. Next time we have dinner with them, I think we might try to show everyone the Sic 'em Bears!

We love and miss you all... thanks for reading our blog and leaving comments. It's great to hear from people we love.

You never know what you might be saying...

There are some words that we, being the grown, educated adults that we are, thought we knew. But, oh no, we had no idea. There have been countless times we've been out and about, at church, eating a meal, in a store, that we've both looked at each other, puzzled, saying, "What did they say?" or "What is a ______?"

There are many more that we've come across, but these are just the few that we remembered to write down.

Tramp: not a less-than-reputable lady, but a homeless person
Conditioner: don't put this on your hair folks, it's fabric softener
Woolen jumper: we think this is a sweater, we're still not quite sure
Hen night: a bachelorette party
Knees-up: a party
Jacket potato: a baked potato
Macintosh: not an old, outdated computer, but a thin rain jacket
Waist coat: a vest
Bop: a party with live music or DJ and dancing (not to be confused with a bap [see below])
Pigeon hole: a mail box
Pudding: dessert, in general, as in, "Are we having pudding?" - "Yes, I made some cake."
HOB: stove top/burner
Lolli: sucker, as in, lollipop
Lift: elevator
Garden: they aren't necessarily growing veggies here, it's simply a yard
Crisp: chip, as in Sunchips (they don't have those here, P.S.)
Chips: french fries
Bap: like a hamburger bun (similar to a bop [see above], only without the DJ... and it's your taste buds that do the dancing)
Trousers: pants
Pants: underwear
Surgery: doctor's office... so if we ever say that we went to the surgery, don't worry, nobody cut us open
Bloody: apparently, this is something like damn, which I think is kind of funny
Hoover: this is a vacuum cleaner... it sounds even better when used as a verb, as in, "What's that bloody noise? Are you hoovering in there?"
See you later: this means something like, "I'll definitely see you in the near future, probably in the next 24 hours." I've said see you later to a drive thru cashier before, which, when I said it, meant, "I have no intention of ever seeing you again."
Waste bin: if you ask where the trash can is, they can't tell you, because they don't have them
Toilet/ WC / Loo: restroom/bathroom
Bathroom: room where you bathe, for instance, in the shower or bathtub

That's all we can think of for now... in other news, we've found the silver lining to one of the dark clouds that has been upon us the past few days. As many of you know, the British do not eat cornbread and are, in fact, desperately trying to rid the country of any and all cornbread mix. In addition to this, they are determined to make it as hard as possible for someone to bake a proper muffin (there are no [proper] muffin pans or muffin mixes [blueberry, in particular, would be quite nice] to be found). But, never fear, it takes more than that to get the Bullards down. On the bright side of all of this, we have recently learned how to bake from scratch some very delicious cornbread and even more delicious blueberry muffins. So, in a way, not being able to find a mix in the store has simply forced us to become top chefs. :)

Bye for now...

Interlaken, Switzerland

Interlaken claims to be the adventure sports capital of the world... so when we rolled into town, we knew we had to try something awesome. The highlights of this trip were threefold:

1. Garrett, Candice, and I decided to go canyoning the first day we were there. We put on wet suits (along with neoprene jackets and shoes), helmets, and harnesses, and we set out toward the mountain. Our guide drives us up the mountain where the river has cut a deep canyon in the rock. The water melts off the glacier at the top of the mountain and the river rushes through these canyons where the rock on either side might be 20 or 30 feet high. So we dropped down into the middle of the canyon, into the freezing cold water, and literally climbed, jumped, repelled, canonballed, and slid down the rock faces, waterfalls, and whirlpools to get to the end of the canyon. It's hard to describe and impossible to video, but it's a lot like white water rafting... without the raft. You'll just have to use your imagination. If you think Candice wimped out and just let the guys take this one... think again. There was a girl on the trip who wimped out when the guide warned us that serious injury would result from jumping anywhere but the very center of the whirlpool that lay 15 feet below the sheer rock face on which we stood... that girl was not Candice.

2. Candice and I decided to go paragliding on the mountain that overlooks the city of Interlaken. Compared to canyoning, this was a walk in the park. It was easier to video too, so you can see it below :).

3. On our last day, we took a trip from Interlaken to Gimmelwald! Gimmelwald is this tiny mountain village that you can only get to by taking a cable car up the mountain. It's beautiful and peaceful... the perfect place for a picnic and a relaxed afternoon. This trip included a short detour into the mountain to see Trummelbach Falls... a series of giant waterfalls that have literally carved their way through the belly of the mountain. They have built a series of tunnels through the rock so you can walk right by all the waterfalls. It doesn't make for great video because it's dark and loud... but you'll get the idea from the clip in the video.

FYI for the video - There is a popular resort town on the other side of the mountain called Grindelwald... everyone thinks you mean Grindelwald when you tell them you're going to Gimmelwald... because no one from the outside is supposed to know about Gimmelwald :)...

Paris

Here's the next installment on our journey. Paris was great and we came away from the city with a renewed appreciation for its culture and beauty. We can't wait to go back!

Note: After watching this video again, I'm a little hesitant to post it. If you know me, then I think you're safe to watch... if you don't know me, please don't judge me. Sometimes things get silly and I get a bit excited and overbearing on camera...