Photos From Faraway: Saturday, January 29, 2005

We gather to celebrate Katherine's 21st birthday. Katherine is in the front standing row, wearing a green shirt. Kneeling below in the middle is Nikki, and on the right is Chloe, both in my Bible study along with Katherine and Jennifer (in the blue and white stripes to Katherine's right).

Ryan, Matt, Stephen, and Max enlighten Katherine to a local birthday tradition.

Katherine's final balloon is destroyed by the victor, Alex, in the thrilling conclusion to the balloon-stomping challenge.

Jack, Toby, Ruth, Jenny, Clare, and Ben celebrate the successful completion of Ben's first-ever cake-baking experience. Here is a gathering rather typical of a night in Flat 12. You can see us squeezed into the rather tight area which is our communal dining/living room. Jack, Jenny, Clare, and Ben actually live here, Toby and Ruth pretty much do. Add in the missing flatmate, Sofia, and the missing psuedo-flatmate Jay (depicted in a subsequent photo), and maybe Helen as well, and you've got the central Flat 12 circle.

Ruth instructs Ben on the highly complicated techniques involved in baking a Victorian Sponge Cake.

Ben enjoys his own culinary creation. In the background, Clare, Jay, and Sofia have varying reactions.

Ben testing out his new blender, Mr. Swirly A. Whirly (Mr. SAW for short) with a concoction of ice, water, bananas, and unpeeled pears. Ruth and Jack look on in dubious anticipation.

Toby enjoying Ben's blender creation, with Clare looking on in amusement.

My bedroom--note lavendar door! Walls decked with photos from home, as well as some prints from an Escher calendar and a space photos calendar. Also note Shrek poster--my first desperate attempt to put some color on the walls. This was the only decent poster at the 99 pence store.

My bedroom--desk, shelves, more photos and prints.

East Slope from the outside. This is one row out of maybe seven such. Each set of two adjoining windows opens into a bedroom or kitchen. The window on the ground level (straight ahead and slightly right of center) is my bedroom. To the right of it is Ben's room. To the right of that, our bathroom windows. Above my window is Jack's, to the left of his is Clare's, to the left of hers is Sofia's. To the right of Jack's is Jenny's, and to the right of that is our kitchen. Everything to the left of my room and the ground floor and Sofia's room on the next floor up are a separate flat (Flat 11, I think). Each "floor" pictured is behind the one below it and slightly upraised, but none are actually on top of one another. If that makes sense...

View out my bedroom window. Note rooftops of other campus accomodations. On the far hillside you can see the woods of Stamner Park. Grassy hillsides and patches of trees--the South Downs! Glorious.

The Meeting House--my second home on campus. Below is a study room, as well as the offices of the chaplains. Above, behind the stained glass, is the chapel. Christian Union is held in the study room, Skeptics Anonymous and the Friday book discussion group are in Gavin's office (right behind the tree trunk), Sunday service and Monday Taize are in the chapel, and after church Sunday we meet in the lobby (on the other side of the building) for a communal lunch. Thanks to God for this place!