Emerging from the Shell: (Sub-)Chronicles from Macedonia's Forthright American

Greetings webbers! For the next few posts, I am going to be donning an alternate persona: Rachel Dunn, Macedonia's "Forthright American," so dubbed by Jonathan Brandt, the chaplain with the Oxford postgraduate pastorate. Why the appellation? Well, I am in Macedonia! And evidently, despite my fervent desire to dispel the remotest notion of my obnoxious countrymen, traveling brings out a confidence and joyful exuberance in me that is in contrast to my more tepid companions. All I did was share my opinion with a member of the Macedonian parliament in response to his (non-rhetorical) question... :)

At this moment I am sitting in a (wireless-equipped!) hostel in Skopje, the one million-person capital of Macedonia, composing this blog while listening to music too long unplayed in my computer playlist. I did at last finish my second term in Oxford, submitting my two essays early in order to leave at an ungodly hour on Monday morning with 11 other current or recent Christian postgraduates (plus honorary 7-month-old post-grad Hannah). It feels absolutely divine to finally be in the "vac"! (Oxford-speak for vacation) I am in serious need of a vacation--as evidenced by the fact that I have had barely the faintest symptoms of withdrawal from my computer these past two and a half days; this is the first time I even checked my email!  But this is not exactly a vacation. We have a wonderful program lined up for the week, presenting at schools, giving talks at the university, fellowshipping with Christian students, meeting with parliamentarians, and other such events. It is really a fabulous opportunity, because it is organized around the principle that we, as Christian academics, are called to use our academic gifts for God's glory. Jesus said in Luke 10:27 to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind"; too often, we forget about the last part, and as people who have done and are doing an extreme amount of intellectual work, this is both wasteful and not consistent with being good stewards of what God has given us.

Okay, nice idea, you may say, but how does that actually work in practice? Well, let me show you by giving you a rundown of our time thus far. I am hoping to provide daily or semi-daily updates so as not to be overwhelming for both you and myself. The title of these next few entries, "Emerging from the Shell," will hopefully become clear, but let me just say that this metaphor has multiple senses, and I hope that you will be able to connect personally with at least one of them over the next few days.

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The last few weeks have really shown me just how blessed I am that He who once began a good work in me has not abandoned it; whenever I take the time to think about my life since being accepted to Princeton, I become fully recognizant of how God has been leading me every step of the way along that work begun so long ago, as it says in the wonderful hymn: "Whate'er I do, where'er I be." Oxford, I realized recently, is yet another purposeful step in that process. I have long felt God's call to become a professor, and Oxford is preparing me emotionally and spiritually in a way that I had not foreseen. Especially since Jon Hinkson's talk at Princeton Evangelical Fellowship's mission conference last spring, God has challenged me to shatter my former ideological dichotomy of mission field and academic career: they are not mutually exclusive. And guess what? Oxford is filled with people who are constantly thinking about this very idea! It is the home, for example, of  "Developing a Christian Mind," a program specifically designed to get postgraduate students to think about the interaction of their faith and their academic work. Last weekend, even, I attended a conference specifically geared towards those who study literature, featuring talks from current academics as well as time for fruitful discussion with newly discovered Christian peers.

And then there's this trip! Like I said, our team left early on Monday morning, boarding a Malev airline flight (yeah, who knew?) bound for Skopje via Budapest. There is only a one-hour time difference, and we're talking about Europe here, so we figured we would get into Macedonia in the late afternoon, leaving us plenty of time to rest and prepare for the upcoming week.

Wrong! Instead of leaving Gatwick airport at 9am as scheduled, we left closer to 10:15. Now, with the normal U.S. flights I am used to, this wouldn't be a problem, but we're talking a different airline and a different continent. So, of course, this was enough to make us miss our 1 o'clock connecting flight in Budapest; the next flight: departing 11:15pm!!

Well, my parents had always told me Budapest was wonderful. :) And now the group and I had the chance to experience it for ourselves! The airport itself was rather charming, with beautifully waxed floors (although not slippery enough to allow you to slide around in socks, I discovered), well-lit open spaces, and a cute little "Cucina" where we could use our compensatory vouchers--made even more fun and frivolous by the fact that we had absolutely no idea of the value of the currency we were using.

But it was also very small. And it was only 2pm. And Graham and I wanted a stamp in our passports.

So, after a few hours' worth of deliberation (and lunch), we finally decided to take one group and see if my parents were right. Visa regulations connected to less, well, "flexible" passports prevented some of us from going, but the rest of promised to return in time for the flight--after all, they were watching our stuff. :) (just kidding, Deborah!)

And we were off, wrestled into the bright blue airport minibus for the forty-minute drive into the heart of Budapest. Mom and Dad, you were right: the city is gorgeous! I had expected something similar to Romania, my only other eastern European city exemplar. But instead, we found ourselves threading our way through statue-embellished squares and continental baroque buildings more reminiscent of Vienna. Myself acting as navigator, we made our way to the river right as the sun was beginning to set, from where we watched the centuries-old Austro-Hungarian palaces and Danube bridges gradually illuminate the twilight.

 (photo credit: an extremely efficient image search courtesy of the almighty Google. But we actually did see these scenes, and they looked just like this!)

We also made a side stop at a lovely little confiserie called Gerbeaud, where Christian, our illustrious Austrian-born leader, could no longer resist the smells of taste and chocolate refinement. 

But don't worry! We didn't let the incredible sight of Graham's and Matthew's caramel ice cream sundaes  (they really looked just like that!!!) make us forget about our airport-bound compatriots.We actually got back before our scheduled meeting time, allowing us to plan for the following day and maximize the few hours we would have to sleep before rising the next morning. 

Because we didn't have that much time before our first event: a presentation at the Nova School, an international school at the forefront of Skopje's primary and secondary school education. It does not have a religious affiliation, but has many Christians teaching there, and many Christian students, including the daughter of our fabulous Macedonian hosts, Kosta and Nada. As we are coming to learn (and shake our heads at in wonder), Oxford's reputation in Macedonia is immense; wherever our institution is named, people rush to give us coffee and tea and listen to whatever we have to say. For students hoping to progress to higher education, though, this can be a good thing. The 10th and 11th graders at Nova were eager to hear about what it's like to study at (insert deep imposing intonation here) Oxford University, as well as elicit tips for applying. This gave us an opportunity to share our personal experiences with them, very subtly mentioning our Christian affiliation and the (divinely oriented) paths we have taken throughout our academic career.

Because as Kosta has explained, Macedonians have an unabashed stigma against Protestant Christianity. To be a Protestant, the Orthodox church in particular preaches, is to be intellectually impaired. So our very presence here is a testimony, as it demonstrates that one can be enrolled at one of the best universities in the world and yet be an evangelical Christian--and a graduate student at that! 

Of course, at the school we presented ourselves as academic ambassadors, eager to share our experiences in order to inspire the students in their future endeavors. I just love this kind of thing! It is so moving and such an honor to be able to reflect back on the path on which God has led me, and to hope that these students will one day have a passion for their subjects similar to or exceeding mine. And it was so easy to imagine that happening. Aside from the clear shortage of blondes (nope; not in Kansas anymore), they looked (and often sounded) just like me and my high school classmates. The building itself even could have been plucked right out of a modern American private school--bright window-lit courtyards, mini school store, echoing cafeteria, even walls adorned with student artwork of impressive quality and diversity. When we broke off into our disciplinary groups to answer specific questions, our humanities group entered a classroom covered with posters celebrating 1984 and Oedipus Rex, surrounding desks exactly like those at Century High School. Thus, following my presentation to the whole group, one girl's question for me seemed completely a propros: "What were you like when you were our age?"

Oh, late for meeting the group for dinner! Will post more soon...