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Archive for the 'Recent trips' Category

Suva, Fiji: Old Friends and New (Toothy) Ones

Yazan: Raymond | 13 January 2012 | No Comments
Categories: Recent trips

It’s drizzling outside on a muggy tropical evening here in Fiji. The flying foxes are out, and earlier today I administered final exams for the courses I was teaching here:  Christian WorldView and New Testament Survey.  It’s been a while since I taught the latter (Moscow 2005, I believe), and it was just as much [...]

Home again–in Singapore!

Yazan: Raymond | 05 October 2011 | No Comments
Categories: Recent trips

After a quick turnaround from my ISP trip to Armenia I hopped on a Cathay Pacific flight to Singapore.  I have to say that it was one of my best visits ever, and bear in mind that I’ve accumulated almost a year of residency there since I began to teach short courses every year or [...]

Too Many Stairs in Armenia

Yazan: Raymond | 05 September 2011 | No Comments
Categories: Recent trips

Armenia–what an amazing place!  I had never been there, and–truthfully, now–could barely find it on a map.  Yet after a few days in the country I felt completely at home.  The people were warm and kind, and everywhere you looked were beautiful mountains and amazing historic churches, monasteries, and temples. There were a few downsides.  [...]

Great fun in Kyrgyzstan

Yazan: Raymond | 08 April 2011 | No Comments
Categories: Recent trips

It was such a pleasure to be back in this most interesting country for a pair of educational conferences.  In each city I visited the teachers were so warm and appreciative, but few were as colorful as these fellows.  On a previous visit I was awarded such a hat, which I proudly display in our [...]

Standing Ovation–My First Time Ever!

Yazan: Raymond | 14 March 2011 | 1 Comment
Categories: Recent trips

My recent educational conference (February, 2011) in Guatemala City was one for the record books.  There were NO strikes, NO revolutions, NO pickpockets–in fact, nothing that makes one of my trips memorable. Except, that is, that I received my first standing ovation ever!  That was on my last day, after completing four lectures in the [...]

Kyrgyzstan Conferences: Good News–No Rioting!

Yazan: Raymond | 17 April 2008 | No Comments
Categories: Recent trips

On my last trip to Kyrgyzstan we had to sneak out of the country in the middle of the night while mobs roamed the streets of Bishkek looting and burning. Happily, things went much better this time! But I don’t want to minimize the problems, especially the fact that Kyrgyzstan is a mostly Muslim country [...]

Flores & Guatemala City, Guatemala

Yazan: Raymond | 01 March 2008 | No Comments
Categories: Recent trips

Imagine an ancient city on a tiny island surrounded by a beautiful lake located in the northernmost (and largest) province of Guatemala. This town, Flores, was the location for the first of two outstanding conferences sponsored by the volunteer educational group with whom I work. Teachers who came to the conference were so warm and [...]

Teaching Church History Survey in Tokyo (January, 2008)

Yazan: Raymond | 11 February 2008 | No Comments
Categories: Recent trips

As I was finishing up my time in Tokyo where I had spent the last two weeks teaching Church History Survey, it occurred to me that I might find it challenging to put together a prayer letter since my turnaround in Redlands would be a little less than a week. After some on-line research I [...]

Travel Schedule for 2008

Yazan: Raymond | 22 January 2008 | No Comments
Categories: Recent trips

As you can see from the map at left (click for interactive version) and the bullets below, I have a lot of traveling planned in 2008. Note that each of these involve approximately two weeks plus travel: *January: Teach “Church History Survey” in Tokyo, Japan, to our Campus Crusade staff. *February: Speak in Flores, Guatemala, [...]

Governor’s Leadership Conference, Bayankhongor, Mongolia

Yazan: Raymond | 14 September 2007 | No Comments
Categories: Recent trips

Earlier this month I left for Mongolia to participate in the “Governor’s Leadership Conference” in the state of Bayankhongor, Mongolia. Last November the International School Project held a teacher’s convocation in that town which made a deep impression on the Governor. Afterwards, he said, in effect, “We need to teach our government leaders about ethics [...]