The month of March brought a bounty of blossoms and books in Portland (Oregon, USA), Oslo (Norway), and back 'home' in Jyvaskyla (Finland :) ).
I was in Portland for the American Association for Applied Linguistics Conference
and in Oslo for a meeting at Språkrådet (Language Council of Norway).
---
Blossoms are a sign that spring has arrived!
Cherry blossoms in Portland.
Pussy willow buds in Jyvaskyla.
Seashells turned blossoms in Oslo. At first glance (from a distance), I thought these were silk lilac flowers hanging from the posts of the canopy bed in the room where I was staying.
...
Then there were books to peruse.
Portland City Library on 5th St. in downtown Portland.
Loved seeing which books they included (one on historical linguistics, even)!
Loved seeing which books they included (one on historical linguistics, even)!
Oslo hotel guest book. We were even welcome to contribute to the contents of its pages.
It's hard to believe nearly 3 years have passed since I was first in Oslo (for the International Symposium on Bilingualism Conference in early June 2011). At that time Francis (Dr. Hult) and I co-presented a paper we were writing that compared the status of sign languages in Swedish and US deaf education policy. Since then, the paper was published and as result, we were invited back to Oslo to present to the Language Council of Norway on the principles of language policy and planning for sign languages.
A book about Norway is hiding behind the wrapping paper.
The wrapping paper reminds me of the Portland city library.
The wrapping paper reminds me of the Portland city library.
While a brief doesn't qualify as a book, it does share some similar properties: ink, paper, ideas, authors, and publishers. :) Our policy brief was published in mid-March.
It's available electronically here:
Returning 'home' to Jyvaskyla on April Fool's, I found this 'little book' waiting for me:
The bluebird (and blossoms!) is a watercolor painted by G'ma Lamm...
...and the illustrations are by her understudy Miss Ada. Jennie served as scribe as Miss Ada dictated the message. BEST little book ever. A HUGE thank you to my 'little yogi'!!
---
Speaking of yogis, here are a few of the highlights from this yogi's time in Portland:
Bikram Yoga. My plane landed at 12:45pm. I arrived to the hotel at 2pm and was out the door at 3pm to make it to the 4pm Bikram class. Oh. my. goodness.
I love Bikram yoga like the sun loves to shine.
The nearest church building to the hotel where I was staying happened to house the congregation with services in ASL. There are very few of them (I've been to only 2 or 3 that I can remember -- one in Maryland about 14 or 15 years ago and another in Provo nearly two decades ago. YIKES!) so I was especially excited to attend the services. This is a very unique looking LDS church building. I actually walked past it thinking, "Wow. That's a gorgeous church building. I wish we built churches like that." I walked on for two blocks and not finding any other church, walked back and then around to the front and discovered that it is, in fact, an LDS church. :) I asked the local missionaries if it was purchased from another church. "Nope. It has always been an LDS church building." When I walked out the main doors, I saw that she was right:
I had read a few weeks earlier about a family who died of carbon monoxide poisoning and that their two children who were serving full-time missions were released and returned home. It turns out that the daughter of the family (Sis. Jensen Parrish) was serving an ASL mission in this congregation. Pretty amazing.
I was warmly welcomed by several people, one of whom is Wanda Forcht. Upon learning I live in Finland she asked, "Do you know Kimmo?" The Mormon world and the Deaf world are really, really small. Indeed I do know Kimmo! "I knew him eons ago when he was an exchange student. I was the librarian at the school for the deaf. He's been back to the US a few times and he always stops in to say hi. He is such a fine young man!" Awwww!! Kimmo has told me on numerous occasions how much he loves Washington and Oregon. It's pretty amazing to make these kinds of connections. There are certainly treasured memories to be made by staying for all three hours of church--even when you're traveling. :)
The highlight of my weekend was spending time with my cousin Eric and his wife Amy and their two beautiful girls (Holly and Peyton). They invited me to join them for dinner at an awesome South American restaurant where I discovered butternut squash enchiladas. They were delicious!! Even more exciting than that discovery, though, was getting to meet the girls (who were excited about the farm that they had just visited and the baby chicks they got to hold) and ride in their dad's big, white, quad cab truck. It reminded me so much of G'pa John's truck!!
(Somehow I forgot to take pictures. I guess I was so excited to see everyone and catch up that it slipped my mind.)
At the end of the conference, I headed out to visit the...
I have a goal to visit all of the temples (there are 141 at the moment) around the world. I love temples--even more than I love cherry blossoms and Bikram yoga.
Here's the front of the temple...
and the grounds of the temple. I love the reflection pool and the cherry blossoms. John Knox asked to be buried within close proximity to St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh. I'd vote for being buried in close proximity to here. :)
The morning before my flight left back to Finland I met up with Eric to see the houses he's worked on and to stop in and see Hippo's, a lamp, shades, plumbing, hardware, fixture store. Eric has shared how it reminded him so much of the old lamp store (Electra Lamp Shop on McCullough in San Antonio, Texas). When I walked in, I felt like I was stepping back in time (to the early 90s). I felt like a kid again. My camera died, so this is the only picture I have of the store. Eric lent me his iphone to take pictures (we took tons!) so once I get those from him I'll post/share them. Wish I could have had all the Comptons there with us to walk down memory lane together. These kinds of shops are a dying breed.
This was my last meal (in the Seattle airport) before leaving US soil. I couldn't have asked for anything better than this. (Although those butternut squash enchiladas are a close competitor!)
Just as soon as I got back to Jyvaskyla, I switched out luggage and clothes and then headed off to Oslo. This is the sight that greeted me when I walked into my hotel room. Pretty awesome, eh?
This is what it looks like by day. I've never been tempted to steal anything from a hotel. Not until this trip, that is. The pillows, sheets, and comforter were amazing.
The view from the window.
The Language Council of Norway (Språkrådet). (Francis took this picture.)
Here it is from a distance.
The front entrance of the building (take note of the fluorescent lights on the first floor).
This is the room on the first floor. We were presenting inside the room and you can see the reflections of Francis and me on the glass as we're outside looking in.
---
Broadcasts. April always begins with conference weekend.
I LOVED the subject line of this email from a dear friend and colleague.
I look forward to General Conference like I look forward to Christmas--with such great excitement and anticipation. Reading this made my heart SO HAPPY!! It could have easily read, "Happy Christmas Eve!!" The first weekend in April is my FAVORITE weekend of the year. Well, technically it ties with the first weekend in October. "Why is that," you ask?
Well, there were 6 official members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints present when the church was organized on April 6, 1830. Now, 184 years later, there are 15+ millions members of the church. This weekend millions (literally) of people (of our faith and of other faiths) across the world gather together to watch General Conference: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch?lang=eng&cid=HPTU040114644. Two full days of spiritual TED talks TWICE a year: http://www.normons.com/why-you-shouldnt-be-scared-mormon-general-conference/
"We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."
This is the purpose of conference: to hear the words of our Savior Jesus Christ as delivered by His chosen prophets on the earth today.
These are truths worth studying and sharing.
And here we have members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir joining in the refrain:
AHHHHHH!!!! CONFERENCE!!!! :) :) :)
Melanie Powell, a dear friend of mine from San Antonio, is pictured on the left. Her dream was to sing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I love that she is living her dream--and seeing her living it is such a special treat. I. love. the. Mormon. Tabernacle. Choir.
Music is a powerful instrument for teaching truth.
---
Blossoms. Books. Broadcasts.
I saved the best for last: the General Conference Broadcast.
No comments:
Post a Comment