CharlieG

So as you know I'm out at the far south of Cape Town by the sea in a harbour village called Kalk Bay learning about the basics of video production.  Amidst this time of preparing for a PSA pitch, I feel like blogging again and thought I'd say some news, actually from a big email I wrote a week ago:

Yo,

Thought I'd write, its been a while.  I'm way down South in the Cape at Kalk Bay doing a three month school of video production.  I always knew I would be doing this course either as a launching pad for entering into the media industry or just grounding me in the basics for peripheral media work and projects.  I know I will always be interested in it.  Have learnt loads.  Its a blessing to have such great room-mates who I get along so well with.  At first I thought sharing with four other people (than having had a room to myself for the last course) would be a bit hectic (a common word in these parts), but actually its great.  -An English computer scientist who actually happens to go to St. Marks Battersea Rise!  -An actor from Zimbabwe. -A South-African kite boarder and worship leader and another funny and chilled out Zimbabwean.  Listening to their stories really brings home the really terrible situation in Zimbabwe... 

I still don't get how art is valued and probably never will.  I guess Damien Hirst is simply very renowned indeed for a 'medicine cabinet' to be auctioned off at Sotheby's for 9,652,000 pounds!!

Am in a particularly communicative mood tonight, well this morning being 2:30am - still don't seem to have got over the jet lag. 

Thought I'd quickly update.  The Global China Alpha Conference seems to have gone very well.  Great to have so many people out here from HTB and Alpha.  I've been filming loads for Angela who does such an excellent job with HTB news!  Still to come is the youth conference which takes place tomorrow.  Was filming clips of the pastors lunch and it was exciting what was being said.

Ermm, hmm, thought I'd just write a post.  I was looking through aboutlife after a long time and just to say I'm excited to see that my blog is working again! (Internet here has been, lets just say very secure indeed).  So I thought I'd just send a post.  Certainly had no time to be blogging doing this course though!  Am learning loads and loads which is totally marvellous.  Not sure who will read this but I thought I'd just make a mark out of the rather long period of quiet. 

(Well as I said, I'm back from the Middle East.  Had a great time and it is great to be so more informed.  Would love to return there and see more and meet more people.)

>I tried to expand this log a month ago but lost it.  At last here is an extension to it.  Just feel I haven't done those three months of my outreach justice. 

So its early July, Philipp and myself are living in the poorer East Amman, Jordan.  It is late evening on the day of our arrival.  After a minute of walking down the street from our lodging, the first people that we approach offer us into their shop for coffee and tea!  The Jordanian hospitality is truly astounding.  "Welcome to Jordan!"  is said to us constantly (principally in Amman), though when you have been within the country for 2 months, you really feel you are definitely not a tourist anymore. 

Situation of Burtigny

Good morning,

So, before I refrain from posts till I return from the Middle East due to security confidentiality reasons, I thought that having not shown anyone where I actually live, that I would, with no further ado, do so.  So here is a scene of Burtigny looking westwards.  Burtigny is actually on the far left of the photo (looking minute here but it is there).  Burtigny sits on a sloping mountain in lovely countryside.  So I feel pretty at home here.  Having just got back from Paris though, it really is so very quiet and I do miss the shops being close by, of which there are none around here at all. 

I meant to say that the second-half of my post will be posted the week after next (rather than 'today' which was nine days ago! - when I left a note saying I would write whereas actually I have now just written and the real today is infact Monday 12th June).

Bonjour! 

Its been a while since I posted!  Can’t believe it was so long ago - May 8th!  I think I am one who likes to write less often, though when I do, I write in depth and certainly that is what I feel I could do, at least write expansively in topical breadth. 

I continue to be really enjoying my time out here in Burtigny, the quiet farming town high up north above Lac Leman.  Yes one can say that these are a highly ordered, organised, hard-working people of integrity. However, I feel it true to say that this positive aspect is marred by the general individualistic culture.  One of the speakers for the week here was giving a talk to the whole base on Wednesday evening.  He was just saying how having been brought up in US city life, for him here in Burtigny, it felt as though there was noone here; that he could just go into any house and live there.  It does feel like that a lot.  Reminds me of when I changed over to my culture of living from India (with the world's second largest population and ever-growing) to Worthing and I was like, where are all the people?!  Okay fair do’s, this place is a farming village up a hill, still it is very quiet.  I feel everyone travel in cars a lot and there is very little walking (the opposite for instance as somewhere like Africa).  Of course it is a very rich country and the nearest towns to Burtigny are not so close, but I still think it is a very closed culture.  It is great that the reformation had such a great affect here but there is, I feel, still that need for the natural opening up from the self to other people out of love.  I know this is very general but do feel this to be true in many places.

Good afternoon,

and welcome to a third edition of Charlie G's web log.  Its been a while, been rather busy I guess.

So to continue with where I left off, there was something amazing when during our week at Lausanne, we worshipped together, video-linking live with Taiwan and Kiev, all singing together, and I knew all the songs very well except just one.  (When Taiwan were leading worship and started singing that one song I didn't know, the Koreans we were with in Lausanne started to belt it out - they knew it all right!).  So yes a great sense, well when I say that in this situation I don't just mean sense but a reality, fact of being in unity as well as a sense of that - sensation of that more like.