An attractive sequential extraction
Honestly, I feel like crap, but I am alive.
Research has required a lot of effort lately. I don't know how to describe the week I've had, but I can clearly say that I've put in about twice as much work as usual - time, mind, body. It has been hard. Over last three days I 've had a steady intake of caffeine, mostly from coffee. Thankfully, though, I did get about 8 hours of sleep last night. While it was much needed, my body, in the form of a sore body and splitting headache, is still responding as though it could use another 10 hours in bed.
Even amidst the demanding schedule of work, the task of extracting different forms of phosphate from my sediment samples is going really well. Monday evening I messed up pretty bad and start over, but since then I've been granted a wholesome capacity to perform my lab work well.
On another note, I've decided to apply to the Vienna trip. This doesn't guarantee that I'll be attending, but it's the first step in investigating the ineffable Creator's plan for my spring break. I also did this when praying about spending the summer of 2005 in Thailand. Please continue to give me feedback on this - I've talk to maybe three people about it. Especially all of you from church that read my blog!
Thanks again to all of you that care enough about me to visit my website. Thank you for you prayers and thoughts, I am an unworthy recipient.
posted by PB&K @ 9:17 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I think there are a lot of interesting ethical/spiritual challenges that Europeans face that Americans don't face. For example, I had a conversation with a friend about living with your significant other (without being married).
I guess my point is that one thing you might take away is a better understanding of the challenges that other Christians around the world run into that don't come up so much for us. On the other hand, you might end up not being able to really address the true spiritual needs of the people you talk to, due to the cultural differences.
I don't really have any advice, just thought I'd note this. (Though you no doubt knew this already, perhaps it was an interesting reminder.)
-DC
Thanks, DC. I was thinking along a somewhat similar track, but in a more academic sense. Maybe I would notice a difference between the challenges that we face as being academics. Good insight, though, in taking it to a more personal, spiritual level.
Sounds like an interesting opportunity for you to communicate your faith, Paul. I second DC's comments, though, that European Christians struggle with more than just integration-of-faith-and-learning as they relate to American Christians' insistence that we break the dichotomy between the sacred and secular.
It's not common for American Christians to consider the economic privileges we enjoy that enable us the possibility of marriage before we have saved lots of money. But, I've heard that European young people don't always have the privileges we have of living on our own apart from our parents before we've saved lots of money and gotten married. (Aside from our much more laissez faire economy, we have a lot more SPACE I think, and more of an empire, I'd say, at the moment.) I've even heard that it's not unusual for married couples to live in their parents' homes.
Nevertheless, I could see Paul acting as a very effective mouthpiece of American Christianity--and a good listener too.
j9
Wow - it seems like much has happened since I've last visited your blog! It's been quite a week (well, month) for me as well with a surge of problems all coming at me at once. I know this is a short comment, but please pray on my behalf as well for the Vienna trip. Through various things God has brought to me these 2 weeks, I am led to apply. And I trust that God will use our obedience to bring glory to him wherever we end up during Spring Break.
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