Jean Of mArc

Dan and I were sitting around playing around, playing Evony, when Dan’s mom came home and reminded us that the outdoors still exists. She recommended that we go to the Quabbin Reservoire. Dan said he hadn’t even thought about going there, but she informed us it was a really beautiful tourist spot close by and she rightfully added, “we often forget about the amazing places that exist in our own backyard.”

So we headed out to the Quabbin, and indeed it was very close. We had no trouble finding it, and it was indeed a very beautiful place. Its history, according to Wikipedia, is this:

Metropolitan Boston began to outstrip its local water supplies in the early part of the nineteenth century. Many possible sources of water were explored, including groundwater and rivers, but none was considered adequate in quantity and cleanliness to meet the needs of the rapidly growing city. After several years of controversy, the Massachusetts General Court (the official name of the state legislature) authorized the construction of the Cochituate Aqueduct to bring water to Boston from Lake Cochituate in Wayland and Natick, Massachusetts.

However, Dan gave a more Dan-like explanation of the history behind the place:

Once upon a time, there was a big city in Massachusetts named “Boston”. Its existence extends to this very day, and in all likely hood it’ll be around until even after the rapture. One day the people of Boston woke up and realized they were thirsty. “We’re thirsty, but we have no water,” said Boston. They scouted out their state and found four small towns to exploit. They told these towns, “Hello, we’re Boston. We’re thirsty. Give us drink!” The towns replied, “We haven’t much water to give.” So Boston said “That’s okay, we’ll just flood you and use that water as a reservoir.” And the four towns said “We don’t want to be flooded!” But Boston replied “Yes you do!” and they flooded the four towns. And that is how the Quabbin Reservoire was formed.

Anyway, we took some pictures while we were there, but they are on Dan’s mom’s camera, and I don’t have them right now, so I had to choose some pictures online that resemble the sights we saw there. They are not quite accurate, but they give you an idea:

Pretty nice place, eh?

For the next few days, while Dan was at work, I got to spend time with his whole family: I went to Dunkin’ Donuts with his mom, I went to see a movie called The Soloist with Dan’s grand-parents, and then I went out for lunch with Dan’s dad. It was good to spend some time with them because I hadn’t seen them much since being there. And on Friday evening, we went to his sister’s place to meet up with her, her husband Rocko (from Rocko’s Modern Life fame), Dan’s brother Andy and his brother’s wife. We watched an episode of Lost, but I had never seen Lost before, so I was completely “Lost” myself. *Comedy Drum Hit* And then we played a bit of Wii and went home. I kind of wish that we had done something together that involved more direct interaction, but it was as it was.

On Sunday, Dan and I went to church, and I noticed that the area that he goes to church has some amusing street names. Among them? “Kellogg Ave.” (where I’m assuming breakfast cereal is made), “Fearing St.” (where horror movies must take place) and “No Pleasant St.” (which sounds pleasant enough):

Afterwards, we went to a games shop called Worlds Apart, which, I discovered, is a non-profit establishment run by volunteers. They let us come in and play games all afternoon! Dan’s brother Andy had suggested that we play a game called Dominion, and when we arrived that was the very game that a volunteer there recommended that we play! So we played it with him, and had a lot of fun. It took a long time though, between Dan and I having to use the washroom and Alex (the volunteer, whose birthday it was) having to attend to customers.

Oh, and don’t use the word “washroom” in the US, they don’t seem to know what that is… It’s only “bathroom” down there… even if it doesn’t have a bath.

We then continued playing the game with Aaron, one of Dan’s friends from small groups and church, and his brother. If you want proof, here’s a picture! (Aaron’s on the right… the one that’s not me.)

We played there the whole afternoon, and I was seriously considering buying the game. Because it was only a card game, I figured it would be about 30$ or so. But it turns out it was 45$…. AMERICAN!!! *Dun dun duuun*
So I decided not to buy it, and soon after that Dan and I headed out of the town… but on the way out, I had a thought: this is a non-profit organization, all of the people there are volunteers, and they let us come in and spend the whole day playing games for free. Don’t I at least owe them something for that? And I’d like to support what they are doing. Even if I could buy the game elsewhere at a lower price, I wouldn’t be supporting their organization by doing so. So I asked Dan if we could go back so I could get the game, and he graciously agreed. I went in and bought the game, and I felt really good about purchasing it as well. It made me realize how I should think about spending my money. Originally I was just thinking about “How much am I willing to pay so that I can be the owner of this game?”, and when it was more than I had wished for, I backed off. But I really should have thought about it in terms of supporting them. I guess I’m just used to thinking the other way around since most commercial things I buy are from bigger companies that don’t really need my money.

By Sunday, it was time to wrap things up. To do so, we first made a trip to Dan’s workplace: Pride Gas Station! That’s right, I was there… in person! But not in the following pictures:

And finally, after that, we made a trip to Boston, to visit the city a bit before I flew back to Halifax. On an airplane. In the sky. Dan had never really spoken highly of Boston before, but we thought it would be cool to explore a bit before heading out anyway. We were going to visit the New England Aquarium, but then we decided it made more sense to spend the time outside, since it was such a nice day. The first thing we did was go to Omni Parker House Hotel, which was where the very first Boston Cream Pie was ever created! Naturally we each got one! Although… it’s more of a cake than a pie, but I’m sure they are sick of people pointing that out by now:

And for those of you who are curious what ours looked like:

The pie/cake had about a 3 or 4 inch diameter and was about 2 inches high. The outside had a light frosting with chocolate on top and vanilla (?) along the sides. Also covering the sides were some sort of sliced nut- I think it was almond, and lots of it. Whatever it was, it tasted kind of like coconut. The inside had soft, moist cake and in the middle was… uh… oh yeah! BOSTON CREAM! It was quite a good little treat, though expensive at 9.00$ each!

Overall though, I was surprised because the Boston cream taste that I’m used to from Tim Horton’s Donuts wasn’t nearly as distinct in the real thing. I’m not sure how to explain it, but it just didn’t taste quite as strong. Although I was glad to have the chance at trying the real thing, I think I actually prefer the donuts. Go figure.

After that, we went around the city of Boston’s Freedom Trail, which is a set path, laid out by red bricks along the downtown of the city, outlining special places still standing from America’s early history. We were going to go on the tour, but it was more than we wanted to pay for, and Dan said he would give me the same tour for free. So off we went.

One of the most interesting stops we made was to the Old North Church. It was from here that Robert Newman, the sexton at the church, organized a plan with Paul Revere to signal him using lanterns as to where the British troops would be located that night. It was from this signal that Paul was able to make his famous ‘midnight run’, to warn the Americans that the British were coming to disarm them. This happened right before the battles of Lexington and Concord. He has since then been much “revered”. (Cue to laugh out loud)

I won’t write up all the details or post all the pictures, but I will leave you with this one clip of Dan and I visiting Boston’s Old City Hall. It will make you feel like you’re going back in time…

Last night, Dan and I took a trip all the way to Amherst. That’s right, I took a plane all the way here, and then we went to Amherst, of all places. And we drove there, if you can believe it!

Well, okay, it was Amherst, Massachusetts. But they were impressed that I could pronounce it correctly! It was actually a nice University town, something I have grown fond of.

Driving around here is pretty nice right now, although we really haven’t seen much sun since my getting here. This state is a little further into spring than we are; there are already quite a number of leaves springing out. Hence why it’s called Spring. Most of the drive is woodsy, and is actually pretty nice that way. Our only hold up on the way was a sign that said “Do Not Pass”. We weren’t really sure what to do about it, but we decided that in order to continue, we had to pass the sign. I hope we didn’t break any laws.

Anyway, the House Church was interesting. It was hosted at a church called MERCYhouse. We met a guy named Aaron who we’ve determined is Dan’s twin: he works at a gas station, watches anime, is a Christian, and has a similar sense of humour as Dan. The only difference is he looks older, and has a big awesome red beard. And he’s really good at mental arithmetic. I said to him “Quick! What’s 3 + 2?” and he immediately said “5!” I figured it might have been a fluke, so I said “Oh yeah, well what’s 3 x 2?” and he said “6!”. Wow… Dan jumped in, figuring that maybe our numbers were too low, and said “Well, what’s 3,843,946 x 0?” and without missing a beat he said “0!”. Impressive. I guess he really is just that good at that stuff.

But, he didn’t join our small group, because I guess there were two male groups. Seemed unnecessary to me considering the small group of guys there, but anyway he joined the “old people” guy group (as he called it) and we joined the “other” guy group. There were a grand total of four of us: Dan, myself, Steve, and Mike.

Mike mostly sat there with his arms crossed, so I’m not really sure what he was thinking. Steve was leading the study, and Dan was doing most of the response. The form of the study was looking at John 14 and analysing the meaning of the story. The reason I didn’t say much (and the reason I often don’t say much at these things when something about them is new to me) is because when I hear new ideas, I like to have time to process them and develop them before having opinions and thoughts to share back. So, Dan did most of the responding. It was about when:

Jesus told his disciples “I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” But Thomas was confused and (understandably) asked, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus gave him a Jesus-style answer: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” And then Jesus answers with “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

So, we were discussing this passage, and the point of it basically broke down to this:
Jesus was telling them that to near to Him is to be near to the Father. However, the disciples didn’t understand that and were all like “But we don’t know how to get there! Show us a road map!”, but Jesus was explaining that there is no roadmap to get to the Father: being near to Jesus Himself IS the way, the “road map” if you will.

Most Christians know this, but he also wanted to apply this principle to God’s will. To paraphrase, let’s use the example Bible example above, but re-write it to be about God’s will. No, this is no longer quoted from the Bible. Please don’t flog me for hearsay.

Jesus told his disciples “My Father has a will for your life. You know this will.” But Thomas was confused and asked, “Lord, we don’t what that will is. Can’t you tell us what God’s will is for our lives?” Jesus answered: “I am the way and the truth and the life. If you really knew me, you would know my Father’s will as well. From now on, you do know his will.” Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father’s will and that will be enough for us.” And then Jesus answers with “Don’t you know me, (insert your name here), even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who knows me knows the Father’s will.”

So, basically the argument is, rather than always trying to find a road map of God’s will for our lives, we should just be focusing on being closer to Jesus. And the more we do that, the more our thoughts and decisions will be in line with what God would want us to be doing.

He extended the argument further and said that if everyone has a roadmap of how they think a Christian should live, it would be very difficult to find two road maps exactly alike. And that’s where a lot of hurt can come into the church, when everyone thinks that their road map is the road map. Of course, the Bible is clear on a lot of subjects, but there are many in which it is not. Many Christians have differing opinions about alcohol, swearing (without the Lord’s name), free will, etc. And a lot of these opinions clash. However, if a brother has sinned against you, it is important to restore them gently. (Matt. 18:17). However this suggests that when someone is sinning, and sinning means missing God’s mark, it does not mean they are an awful person, it means that there is some part of them that isn’t fully given over to Jesus. Maybe they haven’t given a part of their life over, and therefore still have the power to control it and do whatever they want with it. But rather than just rebuking them with your own road map, it might be more significant to find out if there is something that they are keeping from Jesus, the source of what is causing them to sin.

Anyhow, I thought that it was pretty interesting stuff, and a new way to think about some things. Look into it however you would like.

Afterwards, Dan and I went to a board games shop. I like those kinds of shops, but never know what most of the games are like. The owner of the store said we could come back any time and test out any game we’d like, so we think we might take him up on the offer, to check out a game.

After that, we went to a little ice cream shoppe called “Bart’s”. It was a pretty nice shop and actually had a huge menu of non-ice cream things as well. Dan and I had a good chat about his life and where he is and how he’s trying to find out where to go next, while I sipped on a great lemonade and Dan munched down on this cause-of-death in 50 years: a really thick sundae thing with lots of chocolate and sauce. I saw a shirt there that said “What Would Jesus Brew?” and below it it said “100% Organic 100% Fair Trade”. And then I thought about it. Jesus wasn’t a coffee roaster. But if he were, would he sell organic and fair-trade, or would he just draw water from the well and turn the water into coffee? I have no idea. It probably wasn’t meant to be contemplated, actually.

After that we headed back to Dan’s, nearly hitting a deer along the way.

The End.

I am now in the House in Belchertown, Massachusetts with the one, the only, Dan O’Shea! I just arrived in Boston on Monday evening, and was welcomed with a treat of Dunkin’ Donuts. But in America-land, you can buy their breakfast sandwiches at any time in the day, and their “mediums” are actually “extra larges”. This really is the land of the free.

Dan and I have been having a good time just saying ridiculous things, talking about and studying Japanese, making meals mostly involving onions, sausage and perogies, teaching Dan some JAVA, playing games, watching anime, etc. The anime is called Zipang and is about a modern war-ship that accidently travels back to World War II. It’s pretty interesting because they are caught in the cross-fire of real battles… except that they have a ship that could easily help out the Japanese. The question is, should they? Pete would be proud that we are being so productive.

We are planning to go to a small group, or “house church” as they call them here, tonight. Should be fun. It’ll give me a chance to meet some of Dan’s friends, since so far it’s been mostly Dan, myself and Shen (Dan’s dog).

Also, we might be going to the store to grab an iPod Touch. I’ll mostly be using it as a Japanese-English dictionary while in Japan, but there are plenty of other uses I’ll discover for it, such as keeping contacts and calendars.

Right now we are playing a free online strategy game together called Civony. The whole game is in real-time, so set something to build and if it says it’ll take 14 minutes, it really means 14 minutes. It’s not intended to be played all in one sitting.

Oh, and later we’re going to try and make some Chicken and Apples in Honey Mustard Sauce. Yum!… I think…

Dan wants me to say that what is going on here is significant. That’s all he can say for now, because he doesn’t want to put any of his operatives who are in the field in danger. I’m sure we all can understand the sensitivity of this subject matter.

A couple of years ago, I had a blog generously hosted by Pete Freckelton. However, I didn’t really have much to say, I don’t think anyone read it, and most people who did read it had probably already heard me say it to them in person anyway.

However, times and situations have changed, and I’ve recently had numerous requests to keep a blog. Why? Because I’m going to teach English in Japan. In the book Stuff White People Like, it says that every white guy wants to do this, and I’m no exception. The only difference is that I not only want to, I’m going to in July!

This means that for the first time ever, I will be living outside of Nova Scotia. Yes, I have taught some English at a Summer Camp in Hong Kong, and stayed in Calgary last summer working at Wycliffe, but in both cases I was only there temporarily. This time, I’m actually living at my own place, paying my own bills and making my own salary. Actually, this is the first time I will have a full-time job for more than 4 months at a time (usually I only have them during summer break). To go further with this, this will be my first full year NOT being a student! I guess these are the reasons that people want me to start keeping them updated on what’s going on. Besides, most of the time, blogs of people in foreign countries are more interesting than local blogs because they get into all kinds of unheard-of-in-our-land situations.

If you want to be with the in crowd and stay in-the-know on this blog, I recommend registering it with your favourite RSS client. If you want to be REALLY cool, then you’ll have to know what RSS is. Well, let me explain:

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndicate. Basically, it informs you of when websites update, rather than expecting you to check every single website in the world every single day, though if you prefer that method I won’t stop you. In order to be informed, you need an RSS client will show you the headline of the update, along with a line or two of explanation and a link to the site, much like getting an e-mail. There are hundreds of RSS clients out there, but here are three simple ways to get set up:

1. Go to Feed My Inbox, and simply type in http://www.jeanofmarc.com and then your e-mail address. After you click on a link in a confirmation e-mail, you will now get an e-mail every 24 hours IF there is an update. If not, then you won’t get an e-mail from them that day.

2. If you use Thunderbird, go to the “File” menu and select “New -> Account”. In the dialog box that pops up, select “RSS News & Blogs” and press the “Next” button. Enter “http://www.jeanofmarc.com”, press the “Next” button, and finally press the “Finish” button. Now you will get RSS feeds in a section of Thunderbird separate from your normal e-mails.

3. Subscribe to www.jeanofmarc.com with Google Reader. This is what I do. Basically, you can subscribe to websites using Google Reader, and rather than get them in your e-mail, there will be one page you can go to to read every website that you subscribe to, and view ONLY the posts you haven’t read yet. I don’t recommend this for my site though, since I will soon have other sections to browse through, and you won’t see those with Google Reader.

Anyhow, I plan to use this website for several things, not just to tell you about what I’m doing. My intentions include:

1. Music: I’ll upload any musical works that I have been involved with, past, present, and future. Well, not really the future, since when it actually gets put there it’ll be the present. Unless I use a time machine…

2. Japanese-Learning Stuff: I’ll be learning the Japanese language, and as such would like to upload some resources that will be useful for myself and anyone else learning the langauge.

3. Cooking: I really like cooking, and so it would be nice to have a section with recipes and such. Nothing fancy, but it’ll include any recipes that I get from people and they don’t mind me publishing it.

Anyway, those are just some ideas. I’m tired of typing, so that’ll do for now.