good fences make good neighbors, and good neighbors make good water?

Having not had Internet access for several days, I had typed up a blog post detailing some of the amusing highlights of my weekend (Carmen ended up being a Ukrainian musical, not an opera!), but I can't get my flash drive to work in the USB port here at the Internet cafe, so I'll just skip the weekend and go straight to L'viv.

I am living in a gorgeous, shabby old house in an old neighborhood in L'viv. The grandfather of my host dad was a professor at the Polytechnic University in L'viv back when L'viv was still Polish Lwow. The family had to leave the house during WWII, but it wasn't destroyed by the Germans, perhaps because they weren't in the area long enough. After that, the family eventually got the house back, but Nikita Krushchev lived for a while on the first floor, in the days before he was the Premir (which I can't seem to spell right now) of the Soviet Union. When the President of Ukraine or other important political figures are in town, they live across the street from me, which has a great side benefit..unlike the rest of L'viv, we get water all day long! (L'viv has a chronic water shortage, as it's not on a river.)

My host parents are in their late 50s or early 60s. Pan Olgert, my host father, is a retired engineer whose interests include airplanes, architecture, and Jules Verne (he's apparently the secretary of the Jules Verne Society of Ukraine). Pani Natalya ("Pan" and "Pani" are terms of respect used in western Ukraine) is a physician. She's cheerful and chatty, whereas Pan Olgert is quieter. They have a son, Pavel, who's about my age and works as a physician in Poland. I haven't met him yet, but he's supposed to be in town for a few days starting today.

There are only four American students in the program here. One of them, John, is also staying at the same place I am. He's in his mid-forties and interested in the Ukrainian folk instrument, the lyra (lira?). He and his wife, whose area of expertise is textiles and fabric, were here last year, but she didn't come this time. The other two students are women about my age--Ally (Allie?), who's interested in energy politics, and Vanessa, who's interested in folklore. I think it's going to be a fun group.

God is not a Republican or a Democrat

This past Sunday, the pastor at my church read a list of things that won't change regardless of who wins the election tomorrow, and they really stuck with me, enough that I emailed him to ask for the list. Don't get me wrong--I strongly believe that everyone should vote (unless you find yourself completely unable to support any of the candidates, and I can respect that), and I gave my own absentee ballot a lot of thought before filling it out (I originally assumed I'd be bipartisan, but it ended up tripartisan due to having spent so much time trying to find out anything about one of the third-party candidates for one of the more local elections that I ended up filling in his bubble by mistake...oops). But these are the things that will not change, no matter who will be in the White House, the Senate, the House, or lots of other places:

Top 10 Predictions No Matter Who Wins the Election

1. The Bible will still have the answers.
2. Prayer will still work.
3. The Holy Spirit will still move.
4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God.
7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.
8. There will still be room at the Cross.
9. Jesus will still love you.
10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him.

(I'm not sure who originally wrote this, as my pastor got it from someone else, so I suppose good old Anonymous gets the credit.)

The essentials of our faith won't change, regardless of who wins. And I, political junkie that I have become, have to keep reminding myself that as important as I believe the election to be tomorrow, the eternal issues aren't at stake. All the fear that I've heard from people on both sides is pointless, because in the end, God wins. And He's not a Republican or a Democrat.

I've read a lot online about the election during the past few months, and I consider myself to be a decently informed voter. But I find myself voting with humility, with the knowledge that, in fact, I could be wrong in my choices of candidates, but the belief that God's will shall prevail regardless, even though it may not seem that way to everyone on Wednesday morning. I'm reminded of Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, in which he urges for "firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right." We don't see the big picture. But God does.

I have friends and acquaintances who are devout Christians on both ends of the political spectrum (yay for being a moderate independent!), and I don't believe that belonging to one party or the other is "more Christian"--both parties have issues where Christians can support them, and both fail miserably in this regard with other issues. So tomorrow, vote thoughtfully, prayerfully, and with humility, trusting God that His will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. And then, whoever wins, support them with your prayers throughout the next four years. They've got a tough road ahead of them.

[x-posted to Facebook]

little random bits from this week

It is a truth universally acknowledged that I can't get through the first day of 3.5-5 Year Olds without having at least one child scream for his/her mother for at least 35 minutes. And this one kicked, too...if I have any bruises tomorrow, I'll know where they came from. Other than that, classes have been going well, though.

~*~

Having nothing else to do tonight, I found myself taking various quizzes about politics and religion (two separate categories, not quizzes that dealt with both) on Selectsmart.com. It's been entertaining...apparently either I'm Wesleyan/Methodist (yes) or an Orthodox Quaker (huh?). But my favorite result came from a quiz entitled "Political Roots," where my first place result was a four way tie between Anarchist, Christian/Social Conservative, Liberal Socialist, and Social Democratic. I didn't know it was possible to be all of those things at once. The quiz was written by a Canadian, I believe, so perhaps politics are different up there. At least it confirms that my political opinions don't fit nicely into any party.

~*~

I have four different NPR stations on my pre-sets for my car radio (jazz and blues from Ypsilanti, classical from East Lansing, Michigan Radio from Ann Arbor, and Michigan Radio from Detroit). Does this make me insufferably elitist, or just really lucky to be living in a place where that's an option? :)

~*~

As I drive to work each morning, I drive over a spot on Plymouth Road where it looks like the Latin word "via," meaning "way" (as in "Via Dolorosa" or "Way of Sorrows"), is written with tar on the pavement. It may be a sheer coincidence where tar was spilled at some point, but I'd like to think that a group of Classics students from U-M (which has a very good Classics department) decided to label the road appropriately at some point. It makes me happy each time I go to work.

"He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat"

Warning: mild rant ahead.

I went to the Ann Arbor 4th of July parade this morning, primarily because it seemed like something moderately interesting to do. I'm sure I didn't find it nearly as cool as all the little kids around me did, but it was fun to see an American parade again (Balaklia did lots of holiday celebrations, but I don't remember any parades). The floats were very generous with their candy and other goodies; even as an adult, I ended up with a few Tootsie Rolls, a bag of baby carrots (from some health-food float), and a packet of Forget-Me-Not seeds from a political candidate, which amused me.

The floats were varied and random--everything from fire engines to preschools to old-fashioned bicycles to "Save the Monarch Butterflies". And a LOT of political candidates. You could tell that it was an election year, and the various candidates gave out candy in such copious amounts it was as if they expected the toddlers to vote. However, when the Washtenaw County Republican float came out (most of the Democratic candidates had their own separate floats, but Republicans appear to be enough of a minority that they consolidated), the people around me started to boo. I heard a parent tell her child, "We don't want any of John McCain's candy." And I came away from the parade with a bad taste in my mouth that had nothing to do with candy.

Now first off, let me say that I'm a political independent and don't feel that I align up completely with either party. I think that there are areas where both major parties do a good job, and areas where they fail miserably. If I apply my understanding of the Bible to current political issues, I can't come up with a completely Republican or completely Democratic platform. I think that both presidential candidates this year are decent options, and although I've got some preferences, I'm still undecided who I'll vote for in November (plus I hate jumping on anyone's bandwagon too early, because you never know what new information will come out later, making you look really stupid if you decide to switch sides). And if I'd been at a parade where the people watching were conservatives and were booing a Democratic float and refusing to accept candy handed out by Obama supporters, I'd have been just as annoyed.

All of that said, I was disgusted at the people around me at the parade. I understand that people have strong political feelings, and that's legitimate. However, I thought that their behavior set a poor example for the children that were there. If you don't like a float that goes by, it's perfectly acceptable not to clap. But to boo them is in bad taste. Do we want our children to grow up thinking that it's okay to badmouth people we disagree with? And while the politicians are handing out candy to get their name out and get parents to vote for them, it's not going to make a kid turn Republican just because he accepted candy from a McCain supporter. Honestly, if they wanted to help the Democratic cause, those people should have gotten more candy from the Republicans, because then there would have been less of it for the politicians to give to those undecided people who might be swayed by it. :) (Yes, I am my father's daughter, and this is how my mind works.)

So, a happy 4th of July to all my readers, and a wish for a country where people can disagree respectfully and set a good example for small children. Herein endeth the rant.

Barack Obama on Ukraine

I've been on a voracious reading kick lately, primarily non-fiction. The last couple of days I've been reading Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, which contains his views on American politics. It's been a good read, and probably deserves its own post with my reactions to it, but that will have to wait until I've processed my thoughts a bit more.

However, there was a hilarious passage about a trip he took to Ukraine as a senator in 2005 that I want to share with you. At least, hilarious to anyone who's been in Ukraine for any length of time... (I should also mention that a meal he had in Russia consisted of borscht, vodka, potato stew, and a "deeply troubling fish Jell-O mold." I didn't know that kholodets had a fish version...)

And in a quiet, residential neighborhood of Kiev, we received a tour of the Ukraine's version of the Centers for Disease Control, a modest three-story facility that looked like a high school science lab. At one point during our tour, after seeing windows open for lack of air-conditioning and metal strips crudely bolted to door jambs to keep out mice, we were guided to a small freezer secured by nothing more than a seal of string. A middle-aged woman in a lab coat and surgical mask pulled a few test tubes from the freezer, waving them around a foot from my face and saying something in Ukrainian.

"That is anthrax," the translator explained, pointing to the vial in the woman's right hand. "That one," he said, pointing to the one in the left hand, "is the plague."

I looked behind me and noticed Lugar [another senator] standing toward the back of the room.

"You don't want a closer look, Dick?" I asked, taking a few steps back myself.

"Been there, done that," he said with a smile.