cultural teleporting

i jumped from vienna--narrow, european streets, caucasians galore, high prices, cold weather, austere palaces

to dubai--super clean, arabs galore, camel's milk, wide open spaces, oases, moderate warmth, desert

to bangkok--tropical warmth, crowded city, street vendors hawking everything from live birds to fried bugs, signs for "blind masseuse", "turn left through" (left turn permitted without stopping), --> made out of fluorescent tube lights glued into the shape, and traffic that increases my prayer life (how you make a right turn/U-turn by inching out into oncoming traffic--and there's a lot of that--until the traffic has to stop or hit you and so you can go)

so much to absorb--next stop, australia!

no fun

the "new church" in delft is a towering architectural masterpiece, grey stones complete with buttresses. yet its ornate exterior belies an austere interior, as this once gaudy catholic church was stripped of its pretentious frivolities in the zeal of the protestant reformation. i felt a pang as i read how almost every grave marker had its intricate memorial artwork scrapped off and wondered why the reformation endeared itself to killjoys. now don't misunderstand me, i do prefer a simple place of worship to the idolatrous leanings of the average high church. yet it seems that the zeal to get rid of anything that might come between me and God can easily slip into the misapprehension that all things of light, laughter and levity are wrong. darkness and gloom, somber aspects are not the way of Godliness. reverence has its proper place, but joy should be the mark of a true Christian, not dour melancholy.