Here is a close up of half of my wall of pictures that you can see in my living room. The other half is still to be done.


This is my office area with more pictures and some cards & poems up on the wall.
This is my kitchen that is open to my living room. I love how it's one big open room instead of a tiny kitchen stuck in a corner of the place like I saw in many other rental places.

Here is my bathroom.
I will post pictures of my bedroom when it's a little cleaner. I still need to buy some more hangers to hang up all the new winter coats I got last weekend. Now you can see where I'm living! I love it! It's all my own space! 

Saskatoon Home

I know some of you have been waiting for a long time for pictures of my place now that I have it all set up. So here you go!

This is my living room taken from my kitchen area. You can see my "office" area on the left. On the couch on the right you can see the quilt given to me by my home congregation. I spend much time on that couch reading cuddled under the quilt.

One week down, how many more to go???

Well, I made it through week one of many weeks. Classes are great. I'm taking Globalization & Ethics, Theology II, Biblical Theology, Pastoral Care & Counseling and the Psalter in Human Faith. Two of my classes seem to have professors who are very interested in topics other than the ones they are teaching in that particular class (i.e. they are specialists in other areas only kind of related to the particular class I am taking with them). This makes things slightly frustrating but the other classes very much make up for it. I had a great weekend with a nice balance of socializing and studying. The weather here has turned miserable. It is very much like a Vancouver winter. About 3-5 degrees and wet and rainy. I thought it was supposed to be dry out here! Apparently it will dry out this week. I bought a down vest, down jacket, wool coat and some sweaters and a scarf from a seminary friend on Saturday. They're all only a year old and so they're all in great shape. It will likely be the only time in my life when I own a $250 down vest!
I'm still loving my place. I had three friends over for dinner on Friday night and cooked maple glazed roasted chicken, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and salad. Saturday night a group of us from the seminary went out to my housemate's soccer team's beer night. $10 got people all the beer they can drink for a two hour span. We had a great time. It was fun to see my two Saskatoon worlds come together. Last night my housemates and I had dinner together and it was good, we were all kind of tired and my housemates were recovering from the beer night so it was a pretty quiet dinner.
I will post some pictures of orientation and other stuff from the past little while. On to worship, then home to make shepherd's pie and back to school to work in the library.

I have survived!

I made it through the first week of seminary at LTS! This past week we had three days of orientation and a day and a half of retreat. I've really enjoyed getting to know people and making new friends. The retreat was by far the best part of the week. It was a retreat of the three schools that make up the Saskatoon Theological Union (St. Anrew's College, United Church School; Emannuel St. Chad's College, Anglican Church School and Lutheran Theological Seminary). We went out to St. Peter's Abbey in Muenster. It is a beautiful location just over an hour out of Saskatoon. There we spent time getting to know each other and building community. The highlight for me was the small group builds of an el-cheapo kite and of course heading outside to fly them all! Tomorrow classes begin! I am taking five classes this semester and working one evening in the seminary library.
I'm still feeling slightly overwhelmed but ready to begin the year and get classes started. It's going to be a busy year. In January the cross-cultural trip goes to Peru and I will be taking part in the trip, which means about 2 weeks in Peru in January, yay! Next year I go on internship so over the next few months I'll have meetings and applications to complete. I also have to apply for CPE which I'll be doing next summer, crazy times! It's going to be a wild ride over the next few years! I'm really excited and nervous about where it will take me!
Well I'm off to clean my house, that's a downside of living alone, it's all my mess and so all me who has to clean!

Relaxing in Saskatoon

Well I've enjoyed the last few days since everything (almost) has been unpacked and set up. Lorraine and I did a lot of relaxing, napping and just exploring. She left Saturday night and Barbara and I went for a bike ride that evening and then Sunday was just church, relaxing and dinner at Barbara's. I've found a way to make calls from my computer to anywhere in Canada or the USA for free until the end of the year! So I plan on doing that often. I need to get a microphone for my computer. I'm also really excited about biking lots. Yesterday I didn't drive my car once, which for those of you who know me is quite the feat. Tomorrow school starts in the evening with a BBQ and then 3 days of orientation and an overnight retreat at the end of the week. I'm slowly getting to know Saskatoon. One of the things I really enjoy is how close everything is. I can bike or walk everywhere. I'm slowly working out my schedule. I will be taking 5 courses and working one evening in the seminary library. Life in Saskatoon is slowly coming together.

Relaxing in Saskatoon

Well I've enjoyed the last few days since everything (almost) has been unpacked and set up. Lorraine and I did a lot of relaxing, napping and just exploring. She left Saturday night and Barbara and I went for a bike ride that evening and then Sunday was just church, relaxing and dinner at Barbara's. I've found a way to make calls from my computer to anywhere in Canada or the USA for free until the end of the year! So I plan on doing that often. I need to get a microphone for my computer. I'm also really excited about biking lots. Yesterday I didn't drive my car once, which for those of you who know me is quite the feat. Tomorrow school starts in the evening with a BBQ and then 3 days of orientation and an overnight retreat at the end of the week. I'm slowly getting to know Saskatoon. One of the things I really enjoy is how close everything is. I can bike or walk everywhere. I'm slowly working out my schedule. I will be taking 5 courses and working one evening in the seminary library. Life in Saskatoon is slowly coming together.

Settling In

Well I'm slowly getting to know Saskatoon. Today we went to a great little coffee shop in a neighbourhood near mine. Then tonight we went to a very mediocre Greek restaurant downtown. I'll definitely go back to the coffee shop but will take a pass on the Greek restaurant. Lorraine leaves tomorrow afternoon and then reality of being here alone will really hit. I have been spending some time with Barbara who is a first year student who just moved here from Smithers. We tried to organize a BC students dinner for Sunday night but so far have only had 2 no's, only one more person to hear from. I think I have almost worked out what classes I will be in. It has been two years of trying to figure it all out with the school here and we're almost there. I dropped off the last 4 course outlines that need to be transferred today and have four out of five courses registered for this semester. I just need to hear from a professor on one course and if I can get credit for that one I can take a different one. I will be working in the library on Tuesday evenings and have a class on Wednesday evenings. I miss everyone in Vancouver dearly and tomorrow I'll buy a microphone for my computer to use Skype to call people. Apparently you can call out on Skype to Canada & the US for free until the end of the year so I can use that to talk to people back home, yay! I would love to hear from you all, send me an email or something!
School starts on Tuesday evening with a BBQ and I'm hoping I'll meet lots of great people then and begin life here in Saskatoon. I've enjoyed my week off but am ready for some more structure in my life. Too many changes!