Thursday, February 14, 2008

Of Formula 1 racing and sermons

Well, I decided to check out a new church last week, or this week, depending on which week system you use (the Swedes put Sunday with Saturday and Monday starts the new week, not a big difference really, but interesting). The service was definitely like none other I had ever quite experienced. I noticed the first difference when I walked in and saw tires randomly lying around. When I walked in I noticed a tire set up in front of the podium, hmmm this is interesting I thought. Well one of the pastors (I presume) got up and gave the announcements and pre-sermon worship, in the middle of her talk, they showed a clip from a formula 1 race, a driver making a pit stop. I thought it was pretty random. Then the other pastor came up and began the sermon. And it quickly became clear that the sermon was constructed around the illustration of a formula 1 pitstop and other things about formula 1 cars. They showed a variety of pics of formula 1 cars and he talked about the pit crews working together and the gas line being thick and other things. Some people thought the sermon was good, but the main point was lost on me, perhaps because I think the translator was struggling a bit with the racing terminology. After that they had a singing time that lasted about 45 minutes or so, singing the regular variety of praise songs. The fika afterwards (a great Swedish tradition) was good, and I went to dinner with some other students at a Thai restaurant. That was a good time, a bit expensive, but it worked. That evening (after listening to a substantive sermon by Pastor Long) I attended a Chinese New Year dinner hosted by a friend from the international bible study (who is from Singapore). I had a lot of fun there, met some new people and ate great chinese soup. They talked about the different Chinese new year traditions like tossing a salad and giving oranges to the elderly etc. The food was outstanding. After the party I went to a meeting with my corridor where we established a schedule for cleaning, and afterward made the kitchen look much cleaner. It was also the first time we actually had seven people at the kitchen table all at once.

This week I started my Basic Swedish course. The teacher is great, and the class should be helpful but not too much work. We started with asking a variety of questions like where are you from and what are you studying etc. I think it will be a big help for me. I am not sure whether or not I will be able to gain fluency in Swedish, but I will definitely get better.

Well those were a couple of the main events of this week, I am working hard to get a paper done early because we will be returning after the deadline has past. I have a gasque for freshman on Saturday hosted by the Goteborg nation, so that will be interesting to see.

3 comments:

Jessica said...

I agree that fikas are a great Swedish tradition. :-)

SaraY said...

That *does* sound like an interesting sermon. I don't remember anything like it when I was there!

Want to help us establish fika here when you get back? My mom says it wouldn't work, and sadly she's probably right. It's a very cultural thing.

adebater17 said...

I will definitely work to establish a fika when I get back. I think it could work as long as it is adapted a bit.