Another day, another verb to parse. Oh for heaven's sake, I'm not even sure that I could explain to you exactly what that means. My brain is worn out!!! I really think that I'm going to try to find an online grammar (English) course to take before I start classes this fall. How is it that I never got this information pounded into my head? How did I miss this? I've learned more grammar in the last two days than I've ever known ... ever!!!
The only way to comprehend how the Greek language operates is to have these basic ideas solidly placed in my brain and it is going to kill me to get it all up there.
Today was such a great day, though. We got through a lot more information and by the end of the day we were looking at the Greek translation of scripture and working through an understanding of how the entire thing comes together. There are certain triggers and patterns that inform you what is happening in a sentence, so learning to see those and make the connection immediately is quite gratifying.
After everything was over today, I booked out of there and headed back to the hotel. As I was driving down the road, I glanced up and saw a Greek restaurant! We'd been talking about gyros and tsatsiki sauce today and it seemed like a perfect way to end my day. There was a drive-thru, but it was on the other side of the restaurant from where I had pulled in, so I was trying to figure out whether to go in and eat, maneuver my car around the entire place or what. While I was processing, a little white car drove in and I thought I recognized one of the young men from the class. By golly, it was him - and he had the professor with him! They got out, saw me sitting there, waited for me to get out and I invited myself to join them for dinner.
What a wonderful treat for my day. We talked about all sorts of crazy things and I asked a million questions. As we talked, I realized that he was talking to me as if I was a peer (though a lowly, uneducated one at this point) in his field. And then I realized ... I have a field (of study and learning)!!!! Ok, that's really exciting to me!
I asked questions about the craziest things - like how long will it be until I am able to discern the different writing styles of the New Testament writers. He told me it would take about a year and a half and then said that he still has trouble discerning the differences in the styles of Matthew and Luke. We talked about some of the different letters of Paul and whether or not the difference in styles is that predominant, enough to make the debate of authorship worthwhile. We talked about the debate regarding the style of John's Gospel and the Revelation. Did John really write the Revelation? He assures me that the debate is worthless, the style is obviously John's.
Do you know how cool it is for me to talk to someone at his level about these types of things? I nearly came unglued right there at the table!!!
I'm hoping to get a good night's sleep tonight. Last night I turned the air conditioning to 'frigid' and was thankful for all the blankets on the bed. That meant that when I walked outside into the steamy atmosphere at 7:15 this morning, I was more than a little startled. Thank heavens the temps have cooled off a bit and the humidity has released its hold on us!
Tomorrow's class will be filled with incredible, wonderful things as we translate all of 1 John. He says it's the first book that most beginning Greek students translate. And, he said that if you tell people you are learning Greek, the first question they ask to measure your capability is "Which books have you translated?" So, we'll have a book under our belts and a jumpstart on the New Testament.
I can hardly wait for tomorrow!!!
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