Settling In - Initial thoughts and observations about Duke and Durham

In many ways, as many people know, Duke University is an impressive school. (Thus we start off with a very unimpressive photo of Andrea and I entering our town house for the first time - toilet paper in hand! ) Oprah was the commencement speaker this last year. Bill Clinton gave a speech here this summer. Maya Angelou has delivered an opening address at the opening convocation for the past 15 years. Power speaks. (And I haven’t even mentioned the research that goes on here or another local favorite of folks around here called Basketball). But in church on our second Sunday at Duke Chapel, Sam Wells, the Dean of the Chapel, went straight for the heart as he addressed new students telling them they have come to a place of great power – where the three streams of knowledge, money and social influence come together. He went on to say that when we like and approve of this power, we call it wisdom. When we don’t, we call it privilege. Going a little deeper he noted that all Duke students know what privilege is. Either they have rich parents who are paying for it or they have convinced someone else to (or they are going into massive debt – but he didn’t really mention this category!) Either way, Duke students are privileged. Wisdom is a harder and less fashionable word but hopefully wisdom is what students are really trying to achieve while in school. With privilege you often have many choices, but choice without wisdom is useless. Wisdom allows you to make good choices. He then wove this all together quite well with the practicality of Ephesians chapter six. (Aerial photo of Duke Chapel and surrounding countryside. Not taken by me. The following two I did take though.)

So it was good to hear someone speak truthfully to the privileged and powerful. It is good to know that there are those at Duke who are not all about rank and name. Andrea and I have seen this lived out in a variety of ways. We know that even before moving here we fell into the 'privileged' camp compared to most of the world's population but being here forces us to continue to ponder what this means.

As the spouse of a student, my favorite thing about Duke so far is the chapel. 'Chapel' is really a bit of a misnomer though. Duke Chapel is a beautiful Gothic style cathedral and supposedly has the largest involvement of all university chapels throughout the United States. For more info go here. The music and setting of sacred space has been stunning and life giving…

Other things we like about Duke…the Lemur Center! With over 300 lemurs, it is the largest gathering of these cute animals probably outside of Madagascar. We haven't been there yet, but we are looking forward to it!

Duke also has the spectacular Sarah P. Duke Gardens, again one of the ‘best’ private collections in the US. (photo above, the aspiring student with some very large water lilies.) Duke is surrounded by forest which is beautiful but this leads to one of the things we don’t like so much about the area. Durham and Duke and the surrounding cities are urban areas plopped in the middle of forests and fields. Because there is so much land available, this area is a great example of suburban sprawl. There really does not seem to have been too much planning - but what do we know, we've only been here a few weeks. Certainly there is no laid out grid to speak of. I call where we live forested suburbia. The views alternate between forested countryside and large apartment/condo/townhouse complexes that are plonked down in the middle of the forest. Infill is not a word used here yet!

If Duke and Durham were looked at as an island, then the island is completely surrounded by a confusion of intersecting highways and roads. This is helpful for those who know where they are going as there is always a multitude of ways to get anywhere, but for the newcomer, it is a bit of a maze and a challenge. And just to make it a little more complex, it’s all flat. No hills or really tall buildings so to speak to get your bearings. Just stretches of trees.

Other things we have noticed – people are very friendly and try to be helpful (even if the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing!), lots of pine trees, this is the land of fried chicken, rivalry over what kind of sauce (either vinegar based or tomato based) that you put on your barbecue depending on if you are from the east or the west part of the state and much, much rivalry over Basketball.

One of the most interesting things we have encountered in Durham is that the homeless or panhandlers who stand at intersections hoping for a handout as cars drive by, MUST wear orange vests. Whether this is for their protection or it just makes them official we don’t know yet, but it is unique!

Weather wise, it's been humid and hot this first month - can't complain! All my plants that survived the journey are thriving and loving their new home. When it rains, it rains tropical Asian style – heavy and then it’s over and the sun comes back out to bless the steam coming off the roads. It is interesting to be in air conditioning most of the time. But there are times when I step outside in the morning and the combination of the pine trees, the cool morning air and droning cicadas, if I closed my eyes I could think I am in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. A couple of times it has taken me by surprise. I love hearing the cicadas and the other myriad insects and birds throughout the day and night.

We have told various ones we have talked with that it is an interesting and different place. But it might be a place we come to really love. It has been difficult at times. Any big move and change can be difficult but the dynamics of the past year of travel, leaving Thailand, having a rushed month in the northwest and then coming here has left us in a strange state – somewhat tired and unable to be too excited about anything. It’s been a weird feeling. As an old saying/song goes - “Can’t go over it, Can’t go under it, Can’t go around it. Have to go through it.”

The other night we made Sushi, sprinkling on some sesame from the fields of Napajat that Pi Toi gave us. We have a bottle of wild forest honey from the forests of Maehongson that made it back with us too as well as our bottle of olive oil from Levanto from the olives I helped pick. We are surrounded by tangible gifts and memories of our trip, friends and God’s goodness to us. Having it smell like the Cameron Highlands is simply a bonus!

Duncan