Dissertation Summary

A three page summary of my Masters dissertation, for those of you interested.

Pluralist Paradise? The Interreligious Situation in Paramaribo, Suriname.
This research aims to help analyse Suriname as a multi-religious society and to see how in this society religion is apparently used as a means for preventing conflict rather than causing it. The situation as it stands in Suriname is worth researching with exactly this in mind. This small and relatively isolated community of 500.000 people seems to be miles ahead when it comes to interreligious participation and sincere tolerance. Suriname appears to be a country in which very few problems occur in interreligious communication. The population consists of people from many different ethnic and religious backgrounds of which none hold an absolute majority. There are many different aspects in Suriname’s history that have contributed to the situation as it now stands.
The diversity of ethnic and religious movements and organisations in Suriname is overwhelming. For the purpose of this dissertation, the focus will lie only on the three major religions Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam, which are most prominent in Suriname. Religion and ethnicity are not necessarily connected in Suriname. In this dissertation we deal with a society that consists of several groups with different ethnic and religious identities that all call themselves ‘Surinamese’. Their cultural, ethnic and national identities are fluent and have changed or mixed over time.
The Surinamese people today (with the exception of very few descendants of Dutch farmers and Indians) are all descendants of different peoples, brought there for a certain purpose, that of work. The country’s history is given by all interviewees as a reason for the tolerance displayed by the different ethnic groups in modern times. The sharing of a common oppressor is often cited as a reason for fraternisation. At this point in history there is no absolute, or dominant, majority in ethnic or religious form. Paramaribo is a small community that strives to function well not despite of, but because of, its diversities.
The enormous diversity of colour and practice of the people in Suriname is seen as such a normal thing for those living there that visiting a foreign country can cause some confusion.
“We Surinamese are raised with such great diversity, we are completely used to it. You can compare the diversity in Suriname to a lovely bouquet of mixed flowers. When you visit another country, all you see is roses. To us, that is a strange experience.” (Dr. S. William-Asgarali, personal communication, July 10, 2009)
It is very clear from my experiences that it is mainly social gatherings, parties, food and music that bring the people of Suriname together, despite their religious differences. They might not want to attend a religious ceremony of some differing religious tradition in a church or temple, but all are welcome and happy to attend celebrations regarding marriage, birthdays or celebrations of religious festivals at home or a non-religious space. Most neighbourhoods in Paramaribo are mixed and it is common that neighbours or friends from different religious traditions are invited over to the house for dinner or a celebration. The receiving family usually knows which religious tradition is followed by the guest and will adapt their choice of food for the celebration to the rules given to the guest by their religion.
When it comes to questions about religion, most informants focused on shared moral values and ‘humanity’. Discussion or underlying critique about differing religious truths is present under the surface, but generally it doesn’t surmount in violence or intolerance. Most interviewees gave me a version of this statement: “At the end of the day we focus on everyone being human and sharing the same rights and duties.” Shared moral values include the will not to offend anyone, or speak in negative terms about another’s religion. “If I don’t bother you, you won’t bother me.” The Surinamese are proud of their ability to tolerate everyone, within certain shared moral standards.
Until now, deeper underlying religious differences between groups have never been openly addressed. In the political arena political parties have chosen to use ethnicity as a means of distinction, religion has, as of yet, not entered the equation. Religious issues are not seen as something to be discussed openly, this however does not mean they do not exist. They might be present just under the surface. The unanswered question is, will it be constructive to start theological discussions to try to prevent such possible usage of religion in the political arena or is it better to leave the issues untouched and work instead on the practical implementation of interreligious cooperation on a basis of shared ethics?
Several interreligious or ecumenical bodies are functioning in Suriname to help set up and sustain social projects and humanitarian work. This research focuses on IRIS (Interreligious Council in Suriname) and the CCK (Committee of Christian Churches).
IRIS currently consists of five representatives from different religious institutions who come together every month to discuss predominantly social issues as they arise in Surinamese society and a possible contribution the council could provide in improving the situation. The participating religions are expected to bring their own religious morals and worldview to the table in council meetings. As practice shows, the representatives of the different religious organisations find common ground in complementing ethics and shared moral values. The dissertation pays attention to several projects initiated or supported by IRIS.
The aim of the CCK is to provide a body concerned with social and ecumenical issues. According to my informants members of the CCK are reluctant to join IRIS since this would give out a signal to their followers that could be interpreted as deviating from the churches’ teachings of the uniqueness of the Christian church as the only way to ultimate salvation. The resistance of the CCK, or members of the CCK, to join IRIS seems to be partially based on a misunderstanding of the councils aims and actions. Since the CCK itself does focus on bringing their different ‘Christianities’ closer together it may be that the members, or their followers, might think joining IRIS entails such theological sharing. As I have been told many times, this is not the case. IRIS is solely and exclusively focussed on finding practical solutions for social problems apparent in day to day life for the Surinamese.
It is of course understandable that, when preaching uniqueness and exclusivity in church, far reaching teamwork with other religions could be seen as sidestepping ones’ own teachings. Ultimately, this argument of non-compatibility could be used as a justification by all religions for not participating in any interreligious activities, yet the situation in Suriname provides an interesting look into how it could be when religious bodies do set aside their theological differences to participate in joint social projects and humanitarian work.

In Suriname there are many shared cultural factors emphasising a shared national identity but other cultural factors such as religion and the use of a secondary language also stress diversity. Differences in religion take a back seat to shared factors. It is not seen as a breaking point, nor are differences in language, since there is a shared factor which is emphasised more: that of a common humanity and a shared nationality.
Also remarkable about the situation in Suriname is the apparent capability of contrasting religious institutions to come to a consensus and to deal with social projects from the point of view of moral authorities. They are able to accept each other as equally valid moral authorities and join their forces to reach as high a percentage of the population as possible in fighting for their common goals.
It is clear that IRIS sees their role in providing social support and taking moral and ethical responsibility for what goes on in Suriname very seriously. Most striking is the fact that the inter-faith initiatives are being received so well. Unfortunately these positive projects and initiatives are paired with problems in administration and funds, and a general lack of organisational experience or resources. Regardless of its shortcomings; the successes, press releases and government involvement contribute to a trustworthy image. IRIS is accepted as an authoritative institution in Surinamese society. The Surinamese government actively contributes to the image of Suriname as being an interreligious community in which religions can act as an important player to help retain social cohesion.
Could the IRIS model of interreligious cooperation then be used in other countries as well? Public response and image is very important in helping IRIS to function with as much authority as it does now. The model would thus only function well under the condition that the religious leaders involved are respected and still seen as authoritative figures by the majority of society in the first place. This condition may then prove this Surinamese model to be unsuccessful in ‘western’ countries in which religious leaders have already generally lost their authoritative status. This being said, I also think the entire situation as it stands now in Suriname is unique to such an extent that trying to use it as a utopian interreligious model for other countries might in itself not be effective since it is based on a very complex system of factors.

The end of being studious

You have to excuse me for not posting in the last months. I've been writing my 15.000 word blog on Suriname, a.k.a. my Dissertation.

I'm happy to say that "Pluralist Paradise? The interreligious situation in Paramaribo, Suriname" is done now! It's actually been submitted so I can't do anything about it anymore.

Before I send my dissertation to all those in Suriname that have helped me I will first write a small abstract to go with it. I'll post the abstract on my blog so you can read it, if you like.

You'll be hearing a bit more from me soon... exciting job hunting and networking experiences coming up :P

Food

Food is everything.

I'm not even kidding...if you ever plan on going to Suriname, make sure you like eating:

Chicken

Rice

Fish

Bitter vegetables

Madame Jeanette peppers (HOT!)

If you don't like them, too bad. Every single meal you will eat in this country will have at least two of these in it.

Since the muslims and jews can't eat pork, and the hindoes can't eat beef, chicken is basically what you get. Since the Surinamese invite everyone over for dinner and keep track of what their guests can and can't eat, all stores sell chicken, and only chicken. (or fish)

The only ethnic group that sells pork are the chinese.

If someone invites you over for 'tea' or 'something to drink' or 'a meeting' or 'a church service' you can bet on there being food of some sort. I'll give you an example:

On the 21st of June Wilbert and I were invited to join the Bisshop in his trip to Lelydorp where he was to lead a confirmation ceremony. After the ceremony he would drop us off on the way back to the city at our (my uncles) friends from the market's (Nita) house at Pad van Wanica. After being welcomed there with food, they took us to meet Nita's parents, where, ofcourse, we were welcomed with food.

At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when one of Nita's daughters dropped us off at home, we'd had more to eat than both of us had ever eaten in one day.....

06:00 Breakfast: Sandwich peanutbutter, orange juice, water
10:30 Second Breakfast: 1 Potato ball-like thing, 1 Plate of food containing Bami, Nasi goreng, White rice, Yellow rice, chicken, coconut stuff, sambal, beansprouts, long green beans (kouseband) etc., 2 glasses of gross softdrink, 1 piece of pie, 4 tiny pieces of cake, 1 beer.
11:45 Lunch: 1 eggroll, 1 kroket, crisps, shrimp crisps, more gross fernandes softdrink, 4 glasses of coke, 3 glasses of water, 1 plate of roti (flatbread, chicken, pepers, HOT), 1 plate of pineapple (with salt, ew)
13:00 Lunch 2.0: 2 glasses of coke, 1 coconut (water/milk & flesh), 1 piece of cake, 1 plate of roti (HOT), 5 fish ball-like-things
13:30 Tea: 1 piece of chocolate cake, 1 glass of fernandes.
We were able to convince Nita that the huge portions of macaroni waiting for us were really a little bit too much. So she made us a big bowl to take home with us. And a couple of babanas, and some other fruit, and some left over roti meat. Fortunately most Surinamese food is great, sometimes it's just a little too much :)
And every time we come to a different household we get overwhelmed by the amount of food offered to us. And most of the time, you get a full meal, and when you ask the host why they are not eating anything they'll say: "I've already eaten"
Yes so have we...about 5 times already today :D

Turtle spotting

Late at night, when the tide is exactly right, they come ashore.

In the pitch black night they drag their enormous bodies as far away from the ocean as possible. And then they dig. When the little hole they make with their hind-flippers eventually reaches a meter's deep, they let them fall. After carefully covering the pile of little pingpong balls with sand and erasing their tracks they heave themselves back home, back into the rushing water.

They'll find their way back to her and her kind. After two months and five days the little ones reach the surface of the hot sandy beach. Their instinct tells them to run. Reach the big white beacons at the end of the waves as soon as you can. Before it's too late. Run, and try not to look back. If you run fast enough, then maybe, you'll taste the ocean. Then you swim for four days and four nights straight to reach your kind. That's if you are fortunate enough to reach them without being eaten by birds or fish or get killed by humans. Only one out of a thousand will live.

Seeing a Leatherback turtle dumping 100 pingpong balls in a hole on a beach in Suriname in the middle of the night is definitely one of the more impressive experiences in my life. Yesterday night Wilbert and me were there, sitting in the sand next to this 50-80 year old female Leatherback making sure her species has a bigger chance of survival. As soon as they start digging they are in such a trance that you can come up extremely close to see what they're doing.

Matapica is one of the beaches on the northern shores of South-America that is protected by StiNaSu (Stichting Natuurbehoud Suriname). You can spend the night at this beach, after spending an hour and a half in the maze of mangrove trees they call 'zwamp' here. It is a remote place. The facilties are only the bare essentials. A house for the StiNaSu 'guard', a hut for visitors and a couple of trees to hang your hammock from.

Wilbert and I booked our trip with a family that lives at the start of the zwamps and has a couple of fishing boats. To earn some extra money the man of the house brings all those who are interested to the beach and camps out with them. He is a very kind man, fortunately knows his way around a zwamp and is very skilled in frying food. Every two hours he fried us something (chicken and chips for dinner, bananas for breakfast, kroketjes for whenever) or added something to the never ending pile of snacks containing crisps, cookies, chocolate, crackers, etc, next to the pile of bottles containing soda, juice, beer and Surinamese rum. Bringing three pallets of little bottles of drinking water seemed a bit too much at first, but after taking hour-long walk after hour-long walk on the beach in search for turtles the pallets seemed to get smaller and smaller.

We found three baby turtles that had gotten lost from their nests and had taken a wrong turn in their run to the sea. One tiny Leatherback and two baby green turtles. We showed them the way to the water and watched them race eachother. Awww...

Unfortunately the bigger turtles didn't show themselves on the first day. We saw their tracks, empty eggshells and little mounds betraying their earlier presence, but the chances of taking a picture of an adult leaterback by day were slimming by the end of the day. At night we would go out to look for them again, but picture-taking is out of the question then.

At least, that was what we were told. The five dutch girls that came with us on the trip figured that if we 'treat' the StiNaSu guide to enough of our rum, the rules might prove to be a bit more bendable. Unfortunately the only consequence of having an intoxicated guide was that he was no longer able to tell us anything about turtles, or shine his flashlight (the only one allowed) straight at them.

But at least we saw them! Four of them, one in all the different stages. The first one was already camouflaging her nest, the next was covering hers up with sand and the third had just started digging. We watched her dig her nest with her flippers and we saw her dropping her little white eggs in it. It was amazing. You think you can image an animal of 1,5 to 2 metres long crawling out of the sea and digging a hole, but the reality is far more impressive. They're huge, and the one thing I hadn't thought of is that they have to breathe. Ofcourse they have to breathe, but I hadn't realized that we would hear it. You can actually hear that huge animal that seems to have come out of prehistory BREATHE. It snorts, grunts and sighs while performing this tedious task of digging a hole at your behind with little fins you cannot see. It was impressive. We hadn't even expected to see the last one. She was just clambering up the beach to lay her eggs straight in front of the entrance to our little camp.

Sleeping in a hammock was our next adventure, but we passed with flying colours. Even with the drunk StiNaSu guy that kept trying to talk to us. Our night was good, but short. We were back at the beach at 6am, hoping to catch another one at daylight. We saw a lot of fresh trails, but no turtles.

After practically giving up (and having about 3 more meals) we tried one last time at half past one in the afternoon. Most of the group were ahead of Wilbert and me, out of sight already when Wilbert turned around and saw a big black shiny thing moving slowly up the beach. HOORAY! After waving ridiculously (zwaaien met je onderbroek, zwaaien met je hemd) at the others she unfortunatele went back into the ocean, apparently because she wanted to go further up the beach but couldn't. They told us she would come back in some time, downstream to find a better place. But still, we were able to take some pictures from up close when she was on her way down again. What an impressive creature.

All of our pictures can be found here:

http://s519.photobucket.com/albums/u357/selmavhalder/Sea%20Turtle%20trip%20at%20Matapica%20in%20Suriname/?albumview=grid

We also shot some videos, I'll post those on here later.

"Aw, it's awesome, Jellyman. Little dudes are just eggs, leave 'em on the beach to hatch, then coo-coo-ca-choo, they find their way back to the big 'ol blue."

- From Finding Nemo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjtcbO3NqlE)

Paramaribo

Sorry guys, not much blogging these last two weeks.

I'm trying to get as much of my dissertation work done before Wilbert arrives, next Saturday (YAY!).

And actually, dissertation wise, it's going quite smoothly! I'm spending most my time meeting new people and getting more phonenumbers from them to contact even more people. All of these people that I meet give me books, articles, pamphlets and other sources of information for me to read through and understand this society a little better. I'm starting to feel like I'm already 'getting' some of the aspects of this multi-ethnic and multi-religious community and I find myself reading, talking and thinking about it all the time. Fortunately I still think it's very interesting :)

Yesterday and today were the first two days in which I actually tried to put some concrete words in my computer. Yesterday I made a draft contents page, just to try and sort my thoughts out a bit and make an outline of the eventual report. Today I'm trying to do some actual writing and put some of my findings to paper (computer). My little flowered notebook is my treasure right now, everything I think of, speak or read about goes in there. Every person I speak with has his/her own page and at least a couple of key words about that person and what he/she told me or that I still have to ask them.

The Bisshop of Paramaribo has been my greatest help until now. He's such a nice man and he really tries to help me wherever he can. Thanks to him I'll be speaking with the head Pandit of one of the two Hindu denominations here (Arya Dewaker) about his involvement in interfaith issues next week.

I've already seen and done too much here to tell you all about it now, especially since the Dutch national team is playing Iceland soon and I still have to make my way to a bar in this tropical rainstorm that's been going on for about 2 hours now...

For now I'll give you a link to my Facebook album with some of my pictures made in the last two weeks.

Enjoy :)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=84367&id=565292619&l=8e80f3d561

Suriname

I'm here! We've made it! Ánd my internet is working. My uncle is only here till 4 o clock this afternoon, I have to wait here for him now, so I have very little blogging time. But I'll share with you my first impressions:

The trip was great, the crew is lovely, my uncle brought cheese and leverworst for the bustrip to Paramaribo, we stopped at the first bar to pick up some Parbo's (beer) and had a very nice first impression of the country. Also the warm tropical blanket hugging me when I stepped out of the plane made me feel at home. I love it.

Rich and poor live side by side on the road to the city. Huge drug-mansions provide shadow for little wooden huts or unfinished houses with smiling people inside.

It's very strange to travel 9 hours by plane, to a place that looks hugely different from holland, but still see billboards in your own language, you can speak dutch to everyone. Weird, but nice.

As a wonderful surprise two of my stepfathers friends welcomed us at my uncle's hotel unplanned. They live here and drove me and my stuff to my new home. And took us out for drinks and some food after meeting my landlady and her family.

Tante Joyce is the sweetest landlady I've ever met (and the biggest). Apparently her granddaughter Rani has been asking for me for over a week. I'm meeting her today. I've brought her a big stack of dutch Donald Ducks :) Many have told me she sings the Surinamese national anthem all day. I love her already.

Joyce has put me 'close to her heart' in the biggest appartment attached to her house. Right next to her own patio. Maybe I'll move to the back of the garden in two weeks, when the people who live there now move away.

Accross from the garden lives a dutch music teacher. He's here for a little while and has already invited me to come to a choir practice he's leading coming thursday. A Mozart mass apparently. I'm there, duh.

It's hot here. Think of some place hot, and multiply it by two :) I like it, but my body has to take some time to learn the right sweating times and quantities....

My appartment is BIG and empty and lit by two huge lamps on the ceiling. I share my bathroom with at least one Gekko. His name is Mr Tjitjak. (Pasar Malay for Gekko) I like Gekkos. I used to stare at them on the ceiling when we were on holiday when I was little and I couldn't sleep. I don't count sheep, I count Gekko's. Haven't seen one in my bedroom here.

I have to go! The city calls. More blogging later!

Love from the green banks of the Suriname River.

Koninginnedag

On the 30th of April Holland turns orange. Our national colours and those of our royal family are everywhere and we celebrate our country, our royal family and our Queen mum's birthday. (Since our current Queen's birthday is in winter, they figured it would be best to keep the date where it was)

Queensday, as it is called, is actually a very interesting national holiday. One that, by the way, provides excellent subject-matter for discussing the phenomenon of civil religion. All over the country there are fairs, fleamarkets and outdoor concerts, everyone is supposed to be happy, Dutch and outdoors.
The Queen and her family visit a different city every year, this city is then completely transformed into the centre of our monarchy for the day. The royal family looks at local clubs doing their tricks on the streets, local trades are shown, the princes always participate in some stupid oldfashioned game and they all shake 3000 hands along the way. The Queen gets flowers, kisses and children's drawings for her 'birthday' and the whole shindig is broadcasted nationwide.

Sadly this year, the general talk about what the princesses were wearing, which prince made an idiot of himself during the games, and what kind of a hat the Queen was sporting this year was interrupted by the horrible, broadcasted live on tv, view of a black automobile ploughing its way through the crowds in Apeldoorn, monarchy capitol for the day. This attack on our royal family has left 8 dead so far, including the man who deliberately drove his car through a crowd of orange coloured men, women, and children.


So back in Glasgow our day started happily, by planning a small Queensday party (or Dutch Day, as Steph calls it) at my flat, until my mother calls me and says she just saw a car drive through the crowd and hit a war monument, live on tv.


Our little Queensday celebration went along as planned (unlike most of the bigger celebrations in Holland, which were cancelled) by making dutch pancakes and playing silly games in my kitchen. (Since the Scottish weather and landscape does not encourage running with eggs outside) My laptop was there too though, constantly following the news and hearing about one, then two, then five deaths. It was a strange day.

Stukje frustratie

Goed, het onderstaande komt uit een mail waarin ik mijn frustratie van het afgelopen uur even wilde delen.

Toen bedacht ik dat ik het ook wel even met jullie wilde delen, gezien het redelijk mijn 'problemen' met deze faculteit verwoordt, al is het natuurlijk een tijdelijke uitbarsting en slaat het spreekwoordelijk op Kaas.

Ik had net een afspraak met de docente die onze lessen overgenomen heeft nadat onze professor ons, onaangekondigd, verliet. Tijdens de afspraak besproken wij mijn laatste essay, dat ik als draft bij haar had ingeleverd. (dat essay waar mijn vorige post ook al over ging) Ik ben er zelf helemaal niet tevreden over, maar toch is het vervelend te horen dat er je toch nog wel 3 dagen aan moet zitten. Hence, frustratie:

Ik ben n beetje klaar met al dat universitair gezeik van dingen onderbouwen en verwijzen en blablabla. Maar goed dat ik niet nog een HELE SCRIPTIE moet schrijven...

en om het even helemaal BELACHELIJK te maken ging ze me vragen of ik wel de religie defenitie van Geertz zou willen gebruiken, omdat daarin staat dat religie iets is dat omkleed is met 'such an aura of factuality' dat het 'uniquely realistic' lijkt. Ze vroeg of ik me daarmee wel wilde associeren, zo'n definitie, want veel gelovige mensen zouden het daar mee oneens zouden zijn ofzo, ze vond het een beetje controversieel.

DAT is de definitie die IEDERE zichzelf respecterende social scientist gebruikt om religie te definieren. Geertz is een KONING en het leek gewoon alsof zij hem niet kende, en ik moet een stukje van de definitie uitleggen in mn essay omdat zij niet wist wat ik ermee bedoelde. WAT!?

GEERTZ!

omg...

Dus toen ze dat vroeg (of ik me daarmee wel wilde associeren) keek ik haar heel serieus aan en zei: Yes.

sja...misschien had ik een punt moeten maken en op mn stoel moeten gaan staan en een gigantisch verhaal moeten houden over hoe belachelijk theologisch deze faculteit is en dat ik zeker niet mijn essay ga 'censureren' door Geertz eruit te halen. Be-la-che-lijk.

Meh

The title of this blog can be interpreted in many different ways.

'Meh' accompanied by some serious shoulder-shrugging can be understood as an expression of ultimate disinterest, boredom, or even outright desperation.

An elongated 'Meh' combined by the mental image of sheep is better understood as a, as many a postcard in this country will tell you, Scottish Traffic Jam.

In whichever way you want to interpret the concept of 'Meh', it expresses exactly the way I feel right now. Downright disinterested, bored, desperate livestock.

I HAVE to finnish my essay (yes I am even resorting to the use of capitals ánd am throwing in accidental eastern europeans).
But I don't FEEL like doing it. Nor am I convinced of the point I'm making and am thus not capable of putting the words into any plausable order to make it.

That combined with a strong force within me to read Harry Potter and that whole swine flu thing (funny how it's okay when it's on a different continent and not so funny when it's around the corner keeping a newlywed couple in hospital), I'm not really motivated.
BUT, I WILL finish the thing tomorrow. I promise(d myself).

Meanwhile, read the beautiful story in the post below (no you haven't seen it, yes even if the date says last Saturday, I only posted it today, as yet another attempt to forget about my essay) I love it. I want to publish it. (Karen's doing the illustrations) Although I don't want it to be frowned on by Christians. If only because it's just cool. (See, usually I'm capable of forming an argument, not today, noooo not today)

But actually, life is good. Only three weeks till Suriname. (would you help me in asking the Cosmos to keep the swine flu away from there?) It's just those very last study straws that are breaking this camels' back. (Camel, sheep, sperm whale, whatever)

Maybe I should just go to sleep.

F.Y.I. I've not been drinking or anything, I've just been listening to Nakariakov for too long. It makes me jumpy and ridiculus. Classical music can do that to a person. (Camel, sheep, whale, whatever)

Genesis

A couple of days ago I came across the blog of a former co-student of mine from Leiden. Last March he had written a post especially for International Women's day. For the occasion he had rewritten Genesis. I was impressed. I asked him if I could translate it into english and post it on here, and voilà, here it is. It looks long, I know, but bear with me, you'll be happy you read it.

See it as an early Beltane present :) May Love, Light and Prosperity be upon you.


EVE

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

And God said, 'Let there be light'. And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good. And God called the light Day, and the darkness was called Night. Then the first day was at an end. God was tired and went to sleep.

The following day God created the heaven and the sea, the mountains and the rivers, the beach and the forrests. And God got excited, and created the fjords, the canyons, and the barren deserts. And God saw that it was good.

On the third day, God got up and looked at all the beautiful things. They were still a bit empty. And God created the fish in the sea, the birds in the trees, and the little creepy crawlies in the sand. And God saw that it was good.

Gods creating skills improved so God created the horses and the elephants, the sabertooth tigers and the dinoaurs, the armadillos and the tapirs. And to crown it all God created the sperm whales. And God was tired but satisfied, and the fourth day was over.

But on the fifth day God felt a bit lonely. God wanted someone to talk to, a friend. And God created man, and called him Adam. And the fifth day was over, and God went to sleep only after saying 'Good night' to Adam. And God thought that it was good.

Adam watched his reflection in the water. He was quite pleased with himself. He had a nice full beard, white teeth, clean nails, and muscled arms and legs. 'I am so beautiful,' thought Adam, 'I must look like God. God has created me in His own image'

And Adam walked around, and he saw the creepy crawlies in the sand, the birds in the trees. He saw the sabertooth tiger and the armadillo. 'I am like God,' Adam said, 'but you are not, because I can talk, and you can't. That means you have to obey me. I am the perfection of Creation.' And Adam was very pleased with himself.

Then he felt something under his foot. It was a little crawly animal, but now it was dead, because Adam had stood on it. Adam got cross. 'Why are you in my way!' he barked. 'Now you have soiled my foot, created in Gods own image! Now your dirty little black corpse is on my sole!' And Adam went to the river to wash himself.

When he arrived at the river he saw a fish. He grabbed the fish with his hand. 'What are you doing in my river?' Adam asked. 'This is my river, God promised me this river. He also promised me the land. So all animals must obey me.' He ate the fish. And all animals were scared.

God called for Adam. 'Adam, I want to talk to you, you don't understand!' But Adam didn't hear the call, because Adam was too busy bossing around all the animals. God was sad. God had created someone to talk to, but felt lonelier now than ever before. 'I've made a mistake,' God thought. 'I have given man the gifts of speech and thought, but I did not give him the ability to listen nor to love. How do I make up for this?'

God thought. 'What if I make a second human... one that can love and listen, and can teach Adam how to do that?' And God created the second human, and God called her Eve. She was even more beautiful than the first one.

Adam saw Eve. She was beautiful beyond words. Adam went to her. 'I am Adam,' he said, 'and you have to obey me, because I was created in God's own image.' Eve looked at him. She smiled. 'It's okay,' she said. 'Go to sleep. The sixth day is almost over. Now it is time to rest.'

Adam didn't understand what she meant. Her smile scared him. Who was this? 'Who are you?' he asked.

'I am Eve,' said Eve. 'I would like to be your friend. I would like to hear your stories, if you'll listen to mine.' Adam didn't know what to say. She was stunning. Her eyes seemed to look straight through him. Her hair was long, and her body was so round and so much more beautiful than his. All of a sudden he was ashamed of his own scrawny and square body and of the hair on his face and his chest. For the first time in his existence he felt ugly.

'Go away!' cried Adam. 'I don't want to see you, I want nothing to do with you!' That was a lie. He wanted nothing more than to be with her, look at her, and touch her strange body. But he was afraid to say so. 'Go away!' He cried angrily. Eve was scared, and ran away. She cried. Why wouldn't he listen to her stories? Why did he scare her so?

God called them, but was not heard. Adam and Eve were too involved with themselves and eachother, they were no longer able to hear God.

'How can this be?' thought Adam, 'She looks just like me, but still she is so different. We both have two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. We both have ten fingers and ten toes, we both have a bellybutton. We speak the same language but still we cannot understand eachother. Why will she not accept my autority? Why is she more beautiful than me!?'

He went to her. She had stopped crying. She had gotten hungry and had taken a piece of fruit from one of the trees. It was delicious. Seeing how much she enjoyed this foreign fruit infuriated Adam. How could she take pleasure from something he didn't know? Why hadn't she first asked permission to eat from that tree?

'Why didn't you ask me if you could eat from that tree?' cried Adam. 'That is not just any tree, that is a sacred tree! The fruit is forbidden to eat, God has told me that in person!' Eva jumped. She didn't know that. But how could something that tasted so good, that was sweet and sour and thirst-quenching, be forbidden? Didn't God allow them the good of Creation?

'Now God will always be angry with us,' Adam spoke with a strict voice. 'With us, and with all future generations. And that is your fault. From now on you must obey me, so you cannot commit a sin again. From now on you are my posession. If you refuse I will kill you, like you were a creepy crawly. If you follow me, I will be good to you. Whichever way, we have to flee, away from the tree of God, because God does not want to see us anymore.'

Eve was scared. She did not want to die. He looked dangerous, and strong. She did not want to fight. She wanted to know him, she wanted to see what was hidden behind those cold eyes. Maybe, if she followed him she would be able to teach him, little by little, to listen, and to love.

'Alright, I'll go with you,' she said. And Adam and Eve left the place where they had met, and fled. They ran from an angry God that they were imagining.

And God saw how Her children ran away, and cried silently. But God knew that parents must learn to let their children go, and that sometimes they cannot hear their parents voices. And God knew that they were not perfect, but She hoped they would learn to understand each other, learn to love, and that they would not hurt each other too much.

And Adam told his children the story of the sacred tree, and of Eve's guilt, and of the angry God. Eve averted her eyes, and said nothing.

And the children related the story of the tree and the fruit to their children, who then told their children, who told their children thereafter. And none knew how it really had occured.

This story was originally written by Aike Rots, in Dutch. http://aikerots.blogspot.com/2009/03/eva.html

Dundee and Arbroath

After those texty-posts I'll give you guys some pictures to stare at again :)

Two weeks ago Caro, Karin, Meri and I went on a little day-trip to Dundee and Arbroath. Dundee was a sweet little boring town, with a couple of churches we wanted to see. Strangely all of the churches were closed....ánd most of the kebab stores we wanted to visit were also :)

From Dundee we took a trainride right along the coastline to Arbroath. The weather was beautiful (very different from what the forecast said...hence the Wellies) if not extremely windy...ah whatever, most pictures are nice and 'dynamic' because of it.

Try finding a street in Dundee without penguins ór closed churches...impossible.

Arbroath was simply astounding. The century-old Abbey ruin that dominates the tiny sea-side town is huge and impressing. For those of you with historic interest, try Wiki-ing: Arbroath Abbey and The Declaration of Arbroath.

Me and the huge Abbey Church ruin.

"..for, as long as but a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be brought under English rule. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom – for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself."

The dude that wrote the Declaration of Arbroath is gifted...he should've worked on Braveheart. :P

North-easter coastline of Scotland. I really want to go to the red sandstone cliffs in the background some time. Those are also the cliffs the Abby is made out of.

Chillin' in the sun

More pics from our trip:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=71940&id=565292619&l=30fe5a0ccf

Moment of Enlightenment

Just to share with you a small part of the wonders I sometimes have to read for my classes. I read this while the last 2,5 minutes of Coldplay - Fix You was playing in the background.

Murray Rogers, Anglican priest who has spent over forty years in Asia and the Middle East, on those he encountered of a different faith:

"I gladly share, without fear of disloyalty to Christ, their treasures of experience, their perceptions of the Mystery, their ways of breathing the Reality beyond all name and form. 'I' and 'they' have almost disappeared and in their place it is 'we'. No longer am I driven to fight crusades to bring 'them' over to 'my' side, as if Christ were on 'my' side. Fanaticism, including Christian fanaticism, is seen to be what in fact it always is, an appalling insult to the Divine Mystery lying beyond and within creation."

Strengthening your faith

"Will this world SURVIVE?"

it says, on the front of the little flyer the lady's hand is holding out to me.
I am walking home from class with a big bag of groceries and I see a lady walking towards me on the sidewalk. Just a normal, friendly looking lady with a bit of an eccentric coat on. When she is within 2 metres range of me she magically conjures a flyer out of nothing and stands still next to me. I yank my iPod out of my ears and listen to her.

I do that. My mom calls me when she sees 'religious' people walking up to our front door. "Selmaaaa, you take them." I enjoy talking to them. Or letting them talk to me. I don't know why. I'm interested. Not in becoming a Mormon/Jehovas witness/Hare Krishna/whatever, but in why they are.
Just before this encounter with the lady in the street we had talked about the 'strengtening of your faith' in class. Public displays of faith are not primarily to prove something to others or to convince someone else of your beliefs. Their primary function is to strengthen you own faith. New (voluntary!) women converts to Islam need some time to come to terms with their own religiosity. Wearing hijab (a headscarf)in public for the first time needs conviction. It means showing the world that you are a muslim. You are muslim. You remind yourself of that.

The same can be said of those that go from door to door or dance and sing in the streets. We usually think they are doing it to gain converts. And at one point you might think: "Don't they get tired of it? Probably no one ever says, Yeah sure I'll become a Mormon tomorrow".
But that's not the primary point. The simple activity of going out and telling others what you believe makes you aware of your own religiosity. It strengthens your faith. You think about what you believe, about God and the world and about how you think you could make it a better place. Or at least about how it has made the world a better place for you. Why not listen to them, let them speak? As long as the message is about love and peace, why not?

She smiles at me, the lady with the eccentric coat. I take the flyer from her and say "Thank you".

"Don't worry', she says,'The front sounds a bit ominous, but it has a good ending"

And for her it does.

Scotland map

As I just came back from Holland with a massive cold, resulting in stabbing pain in my ears during the flight and fear of permanent damage (since I still can't hear much)I have decided I'm ill until further notice.
Obviously I had enough of lying in my bed after one day, so today map-making has made it's entry: Hurrah!
The little gadget posted below is just to show you where I've been doing the things I've been blogging about and to recommend nice places to visit, eat, sleep etc. It's still a work in progress, so not all of what I want to show you is tagged yet (especially nog in Glasgow city) I'm also working on putting in pictures of the different places. Have fun looking at my world :)


Grotere kaart weergeven

Winter in Glasgow

The most hilarious snowman ever.

It seems as if Spring has now officially taken over! Hurrah!
A couple of weeks ago (or was it even last week..?) that seemed very far away indeed.
Here are some pictures to show you what Glasgow looks like in winter and how creative people get with snow....

Botanics

I love the look on his face! And the leaf-hairdo :-)

View from my window

En toen kwam er wéér iemand langs :)

Naast de redelijk opkomende essay stress is er hier gelukkig altijd nog wel iets SOGgends te beleven. Zoals bijvoorbeeld het bezoek van de 15 jarige zoon van mijn moeders beste vriendin (het klinkt ingewikkeld, maar dat is het niet).

Reynier had al sinds ik hier ging wonen tegen zijn moeder gezegd dat hij bij mij zou komen logeren. Moeders had mij dus maar even daarvan op de hoogte gesteld en voilá: het werd geregeld.

Ik zou hem zondagochtend ophalen op het vliegveld, dus ik bedacht fijn budget-wise met de bus heen te gaan en met de taxi terug te komen. Mijn bus was natuurlijk te langzaam, ik miste mijn aansluiting en Reynier was te vroeg...lekker dan. Hij belde me toen ik midden in het centrum van Glasgow op mijn tweede bus stond te wachten.

Sja...ik kan er pas met 20 minuten zijn, terwijl hij met 10 minuten met een taxi bij mij thuis is. Dus ik vraag hem of hij geld heeft voor de taxi: "ja natuurlijk". Okee, ik stuur hem mijn adres in een smsje en ren naar de metro om weer naar de West End te komen. Vanaf het metrostation zal ik dan wel een taxi naar huis nemen. Hopelijk ben ik er dan tegelijkertijd met hem. In het metrostation (waar ik normaal nooit bereik heb...danku kosmos) gaat mijn telefoon: "eh dat adres moet ik nu wel hebben, want ik zit in de taxi en we zijn al bijna bij de West End". Smsje is dus nooit aangekomen..na wat taal moeilijkheden en herhalingsoefeningen begrijpt de taxi chauffeur dan eindelijk waar hij heen moet. Gelukkig net op tijd, want daar is mijn metro.

Aangekomen op Byres road is daar geen taxi te vinden....goeie, danku kosmos. Ik begin dus de 20 min wandeltocht naar huis, en wordt (vlak voor de RBS, danku kosmos) gebeld: "eh...we zijn er bijna maar ik was even vergeten dat ik alleen euro's bij me heb, en geen ponden"

Oh

Gelukkig stopt de taxi en geeft Reynier maar als laatste redmiddel de telefoon aan de taxi chaufffeur: "Hiya, I'm really very sorry bu the boy seems to no have any pounds on 'im. Could you maybe, please, take 'im down to Byres' so you cou take both of us up an I can pay for his ride?"

"Sure love, where are ye?"

Pff...

Dus, geld uit de pin, wachten op de taxi. Krijg ik een sms van mn moeder: "Hoi! Margriet (moeder van R) en ik zitten lekker aan de koffie. Alles goed gegaan? Hebben jullie elkaar al gevonden?"

Goeie, kosmos.

"Eh..we zitten nu even in een stressvolle situatie, als je me over een half uur in mn kamer belt hoop ik er te zijn...."

En daar is de taxi. *zucht*

Reynier is onder de indruk van mijn schotse accent, hij had geen woord van de arme man verstaan, haha.

Goed, gelukkig staat dit redelijk stressvolle begin niet symbool voor al zijn dagen hier :) Het was super leuk. Voetbal en rugby gekeken, de stad bekeken, botanics, uni, filmpje gekeken in de hoogste bios van eurpa, bij Annemieke en Duncan gegeten en een dag een mini tour van Schotland gedaan onder leiding van mijn lieve college genote Shannie.

Die dag is trouwens en blog op zichzelf waard, zij blijkt echt in het mooiste huis OOIT te wonen! Met een uitzicht waar ik in het donker al van ging kwijlen, alsook van de Aga...

Ik hoop er nog eens naartoe te kunnen om met daglicht foto's te maken, hier eventjes eentje in de schemering:

Wow....de jongste zoon heeft ons ook even in zijn (ZIJN, ja) giga zwarte jeep met MEGA geluidssysteem terug naar Glasgow gereden.

De terugweg woensdag naar het vliegveld ging trouwens een stuk soepeler, haha.

Januari, visitors!

Glasgow central station....zie de verbazing in mijn gezicht. Wát?

The other half of Januari was filled with visitors! Hurray! My boyfriend and my best friend were here, with only 24 hours in between :)
I need to read a LOT for class now, so I'll just give you an impression of the fun through some pictures.

Me and my uni

Hurrah! Coooos!



Hihihihi

Pollok house

Rest and be Thankful valley

Fortune telling fish and Christmas hats!

Tarbert and it's castle :)

The lovely couches at the Hub

I am in love with those couces...with couches in general. I don't have a couch in my appartment. I could cry....

Januari, academia

Wow...that month flew by...

In between all that time that I had people over (tell you about that later)my classes started again.
I am now taking an extra curricular class in Religion in Society. I wanted to take this class in stead of my Sacred Texts class, but since I was told in September I wasn't allowed, I didn't.
Unfortunately i found out in December that i could have taken my electives outside of the department, but that by then it was too late to do so. Sucks to be you, you're stuck with hermeneutics...thanks.

So now, just to piss off everyone in my department :), i'm taking it anyway! I can't use the credits for my degree, but the actual information discussed in class will be 1000 times more useful for my dissertation than random rambling about God in literature. (no offence :) it's just not my thing)
The Religion in Society class is actually an anthropology of religion class, with some sociology thrown in. Oh wait, wasn't that what I wanted to be doing all the time now? So I'm enjoying it :) Very much so. It's just good to be in a class where you actually know the names that pass in the conversation (Durkheim: check, Geertz: check) minor annoyance is that most of the other people taking the class haven't taken classes in religion or anthropology before. But they are all very nice and do see all of it with social science eyes, which is a welcome change from the horde of theologians that I spend most my time (classwise) with.

Before the start of the first class a student came in (I was obviously already there, excited :)) and said: I wonder if there is actually going to be a religious person in this class, that would be so interesting. (as a sidenote: this guy is ruthlessly atheist, thinks everyone who remotely believes in anything is an idiot and is, as far as I can see, definitely gay (or latently so.) Now read the previous scentence again, adding the image described above....)
I said: Well I'd rather that there isn't. That would be a welcome change of scenery for me.
This new classmate then could hardly believe there would be anyone within a university who can seriously ask in class, after reading a text on religious pluralism, how that text could be used to prove Christianity's superiority over other religions. (Which obviously happened in my first semester...I stared at him)
So! I love my social science detox moment of the week, my classmates are nice and more importantly: of the same age as me. The teacher is good (ie, fills most of her class with examples from her own research in...uh Peru(?)) and friendly. I think I have to go and talk to her about my dissertation research.

About that dissertation...my plans are starting to become more concrete. I have a supervisor now and she is very enthousiastic about sending me to Surinam for two months to look at the Inter-faith relations in paramaribo. Score :)
Hopefully accomodation and ethics board permission follow this month. That would mean that I'll be moving back to Holland in May, only to 'move' to Surinam at the end of that month. I'm already dreaming about sunshine and Roti.

Soko,soko!

Ice skating

Last week the teperatures in Holland dropped to about -20 degrees celsius at night, which hadn't happened in twelve years!

Temperatures of this kind have a strange effect on the Dutch. All of a sudden all other news dissappears and ONE topic is of paramount importance. Will it happen....will we see the day again....could it be true?

Slowly little ponds, canals, streams and eventually lakes start freezing over. And then out of the blue it seems that every single Dutch person owns a pair of skates ánd knows how to skate ánd is prepared to face the cold and the possibility of disappearing under thin ice to do it.

'Ice Masters' start crawling out of their twelve-year hibernation and all eyes are on them. When can we go? Is it safe yet? Can we, can we pleeeaaase?

The Ice Masters appear on tv saying that we shouldn't all freak out because the "Journey of all Journeys" will have to wait until we have had at least ten straight days of -10 degrees. So we wait.

Ice skating is a skill that is supposed to be present in everyone that has Dutch blood running through their veins. You are supposed to be born with it. So I felt kind of awkward that I hadn't been on skates in twelve years and hadn't been any good then either...(I used to be on ice hockey skates to boot. "Which is more like walking on ice than actually skating" as I was told.)

Real Dutch skate on 'Noren', Vikings, Real Skates, leather shoes with huge butcher knives attached to them. Lethal when accidently falling over and having you hand skated over. Also lethal to those who don't know how to ride them. Like me.

Wilbert and his family on the other hand are proper Dutch. With proper skates. And a proper natural ice rink next to their house. So Wilbert was properly raised as a Dutch boy, standing on water as soon as it froze over and carrying on today on covered ice rinks where he skates once a week in winter. (Read: He is good and I suck)

So we went to Giethoorn (the Dutch Venice) to skate with Wilbert's family and to let me have my very first proper Viking experience. (On skates borrowed from Wilberts family)

We took the two hour drive to Giethoorn. Unfortunately it was definitely thawing. Now the normal human reaction would be to be scared to fall through the ice and die or at the least be very cold (as I was). But no! Not the Dutch! They stay on the ice until they can prove not to be Jesus.

I was aching everywhere after ten minutes. To make a long and embarrasing story short(ish): Wilbert pushed me back to our starting point and I enjoyed my hot chocolate and view of proper Dutch people for the rest of the day.

The day befoe I left, so last Thursday we went out again to skate near my moms house. This time I actually enjoyed the proper skating and the beautiful surroundings (I taped my ankles to keep them from spraining 300 times a minute) so YAY! Proper skating can now be ticked off my 'To do once in your life' list.

Now to get back to the Journey of all Journeys: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfstedentocht

The last time this Journey of eleven Dutch cities, a skating marathon of 200 kilometers, was ridden was twelve years ago. The name of the winner of this race is remembered by all Dutchman. It is such a rare occurance that everyone looks forward to it with wild anticipation as soon as the thermometer hits -1.

Last week the Dutch championships have already been ridden. One hundred kilometers on natural ice. Men with frozen eyebrows drudge through dense mist to claim a title that might land them another twelve years of fame. The whole country goes insane. Maybe soon they will experience the Journey of all Journeys again.... Even my proper Dutch heart skips a beat.

For more wintery pictures see:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=57860&l=5536e&id=565292619

Blissful Holidays

Yesterday I arrived back from Holland after almost four weeks of ultimate nothingness and extreme busyness. Obviously I haven't done half as much class work as I wanted to do nor half the catching up with people as I wanted, but still I found myself spending no more than three nights at a time in one place.

Wilbert and me had my mom's car to ourselves and I think we've spend a quarter of our time in it. Had no less fun than if we would have stayed in one place though!
I like driving with him (or actually him driving me :P). We talk, we sing with the radio, comment on ridiculous topics discussed on it and are just generally sitting next to eachother. Nice.

So we went from a birthday here to a Christmas dinner there to a Christmas breakfast way over there back to a New Years reception or ice skating or house-sitting or being ill way back over here.

I'll tell you about it in smaller portions :D

So now I am back in Glasgow. Started my first day typically by getting groceries through wind and rain and almost setting of the fire alarm.
(I actually did set it off but ran around closing doors, opening windows and freaking out until it stopped. You should've seen it...stupid toasters)