back to reality...

so i am now back from city/script and it feels like summer has officially begun. i decided that i needed to take today off after a very intense week at city/script. having to put energy into both teaching and being a staff worker was quite a push but i have arrived at the end a little surprised that i can still walk. most people have pointed out that my ability to speak english has suffered (although i wasn't all too fluent to begin with) but i am sure getting some good sleep over the next week will get that all sorted out.

just to summarize the week, studying scripture = good, experiencing the city = good, Jesus = very good, the food = mostly greasy. i hope to write more about the week after i get a chance to process it for myself as well as do the rounds to catch up with students who were there. the one thing about teaching is that you don't have much time to actually be a staff worker so i feel like i still have a lot to hear from people about what Jesus was/is doing in their hearts.

now that i am back, i decided to start putting the book of Mark into action right away and i have started to explore my new neighbourhood. the weekend before city/script, i moved from west hamilton (close to campus) into hamilton's north end to live with some friends for the summer. the north end is an interesting neighbourhood as it is composed mostly of low income families and is currently under the pressure of being regentrified in response to development of the harbour front. it is truly on 'the other side of the tracks' being north of downtown, which faces problems of its own.

i walked along barton st. which is home to a prison, a hospital, and a shockingly low number of tim hortons (i counted only one between john st. and sherman st. ... i thought this was hamilton?). there are also probably 4 empty store fronts for every full one and an obvious 'ghost town' feel to the whole area. my oma is always telling me stories of back in the day when my opa and her would join friends of theirs to go shopping along barton but it is far from that picture today.

it is a place deemed "unclean," to use Mark terminology, and i am hoping that through the summer i can look deeper to see how Jesus is in there cleaning it up and restoring the people who live here.