Saturday, November 17, 2012

Catching Up


I have not written here for a while.

I have not had the energy to write anything extra - mostly because I have been frantically finishing revisions to my Phd thesis. My thesis examines the life and thought of Rev. William Shaw, a Methodist Minister who accompanied a party of settlers from England to South Africa in 1820. Once his party (the Sephton Party) was settled in their new home, he moved on to become a missionary to the amaXhosa. My interest is not so much on what he did – rather than on what he thought.  I set out the theology that formed him in England, and speculated at how this shaped his actions when he arrived in South Africa.

No sooner than this was finished than I had to set end of year examinations. I have taught a course on the History of the Christian Church in South Africa, and a course on Preaching. I then helped my classes finish off their academic year, and prepared them for exams. The good news is that I have just finished marking! This is really the worst part of teaching – 30 answers to the same question ...many times over ...wearies the brain! My best answer? "The Muslims bought slaves on the flee (sic) market".

And the other good news is that I submitted my thesis – and it has been accepted. My graduation is on 15 December at the University of Cape Town. So December promised to be a good month: first there is the wedding of my nephew Ryan; then graduation, then Christmas with the family.

And for those who are wondering: yes I am still running. Below is a table of my running this year. I have run 269 days of 2012. My goal is to run 300 days of this year – so I have 31 days left.  If you have not heard, I am running for a charity that cares for street children. I hope for one Rand for every day that I run – you can donate as follows: You can donate safely online through the BackaBuddy site:http://www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/irun4icare

Count:
269 Activities
Distance:
1,987.78 km
Time:
254:26:40 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:
25,349 m
Avg Speed:
7.5 km/h
Avg HR:
--
Avg Run Cadence:
--
Avg Bike Cadence:
--
Calories:
167,366 C