| 7/6/2011 I know, I know, I haven't updated in a good long while. That's partly to do with the fact that the last entry comparing Tron with Tron: Legacy took ages to write, so I'd convinced myself I had met some sort of imaginery quota. The other reason is that I was busy with Christian Aid Week, then we had a week's breather before we went to Dresden for the 2011 Kirchentag. So I might as well talk about that a little bit. The Kirchentag is Germany's Evangelical Convention, filled with music (lots of bands), lectures, special church services and just about anything else you could both expect and not expect. And I can legitimately say it was a real convention because there were even a couple of people wandering around with "Free Hugs" signs. The Kirchentag (which actually lasts 4.5 days officially) itself was rather up-and-down in terms of quality of service and organisation. An awful lot of people were given inaccurate information, some events were not properly advertised and there were a lot of failures and missed opportunities. Mum and I were also rather puzzled as to what its focus was. Apparently the Kirchentag is merely a gathering of protestants, so that they become aware of the large community they're apart of. How vague. On the plus side, there are many relevant events happening in relation. Massive outdoors services, a variety of acts performing Christian (and non-Christian) songs, bible studies...that's the first big missed opportunity really. Each day only had one timeslot for bible study sessions and that was at 9:30 am. Surely any sensible Christian gathering would scatter the timeslots and locations of the bible studies? That really baffled me. The other problem was with the talks/lectures. Some were relevant, like the topic of homosexuals and the church, as well as the use of theatre pieces in services. Others covered things like Germany's education policy, environmental agendas, the impact of globalisation...at this point you're wondering why these talks were even approved. The biggest problem of the Kirchentag really was that it took place in Dresden. Nothing wrong with Dresden as a city, it's just that it doesn't have a large convention centre. As a result, venues were scattered across the city. Trams were packed almost all the time, with a number of speakers having a hard time meeting their appointments. Despite all this though, I think I will go again. Mum won't. |