Henderson - where do you/they come from

Since I am in the hospital right now (nothing too serious so far, but still painful) I find myself with a lot of time. I now use much more time to talk with our God, what a blessing :) I am also so thankful for Rebecca spending so much time in between her teaching duties with me!

However I just googled a bit and found a quite thorough little article about that the name 'Henderson.' As some of you might not know, that's my wife's maiden name. When we visited the States a while ago, we had the opportunity to go to a pretty cool Scottish festival. Rebecca knew that 'Henderson' does have scottish roots. So, she was excited and even got to walk with 'her' clan during the parade. Man, she liked that.

Anyhow, can you guess what Henderson stands for? Think it over a little bit and carry on reading :)

This is an ancient Scottish name, the patronymic (meaning "son of") form of Hendry, a mainly Scottish variant of the personal name "Henry". Some bearers of the name Henderson are descended from Henrysons, the "d" being a common intrusive element in many languages between "n" and "r". Henry is from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements "haim" or "heim", home, and "ric", power. It was introduced into England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066 as "Henri". In Scotland the Hendersons of Fordell in Fifeshire are the chief Lowland family of the name, and are believed to be descended from an old Dumfriesshire family of Henrysons. A branch of the Clan Gunn bears the name Henderson, and there is another Clan Henderson of Glencoe. An interesting namebearer, recorded in the "Dictionary of National Biography", was John Henderson (1747 - 1785), who was a notable actor of his day, considered second only to David Garrick. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Henrisone, which was dated 1374, in Scottish Papers, in the Public Records Office, during the reign of King Robert 11 of Scotland, 1371 - 1390. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.
(quoted from http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/henderson)

Pretty cool stuff! There is a lot of history hidden behind that name, isn't there?

There is also a lot of interesting stuff on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Henderson.

First day

Our night in the train was reasonably good :) a little uncomfortable, since 5 people tried to squeeze into a 2m by 2m "bed". Nevertheless we slept...

Arriving in Rome we first walked to our B&B - blue rose. Basically a cute little appartment rented out for tourists. We got free breakfast, a three beds room and our own bathroom, what more can you wish for? Oh well the traffic could be quieter, but that makes Rome just more genuine :)

As we made our way into the city, we stopped by a cute family run cafe were we enjoyed cappuccini (or cappucci) and cornetti - amazingly yummy vanille cream filled pasteries. We were off to a great start!


After passing by the Colosseum we split up - Thomas took a tour of the Foro Romano while Lisa and I explored a later part of Roman history. Did you know that Italy as we know it today wasn't united until 1870? We learned that along with other facts in the Monumento Vittorio Emanuele II -the big white building also nicknamed the 'typewriter' or 'wedding cake.'

We also enjoyed ice cream, pizza and coffee. And of course we enjoyed visiting a few churches, people watching and crossing the streets Italian style - the main thing is to be confident, make eye contact with any oncoming drivers and to stick with a large group of pedestrians. There IS power in numbers while crossing any street!

Check out our web album for more pics: https://picasaweb.google.com/thomas.zillinger/RomeI?authkey=Gv1sRgCJfZstjhsMu7eQ

Rome we are coming

Well, here we go, we are in the train, still in austria for another hour or so. Rebecca, me and Lisa S. We are very excited :) Looking forward to our first italian gelato this year! This is the ticket to our joy to come:

I guess the further away the destination, the bigger the tickets get :)

Winter 2010/11

This winter is thankfully almost over - I am not a fan of the cold, but fortunately this year we had lots of interesting ways to spend our time, thereby distracting me from snow and temperatures.

Thomas and I both enjoyed being part of an Alpha course at our church. Tom helped out a lot more (music team, technical team, group leader...you get the picture) than I. In my defense, I did have an English course to teach which overlapped with the Alpha course. It was great to be part of organzing it and getting to see some growth and changes in our team and the participants. Here's one picture during the weekend retreat as part of the course.


Also we did many wintery and Christmasy things. Here's a pic of me getting ready to make Christmas cookies with - no, that's NOT Tom! It's Hans, the son of some friends of ours and since he lives so close, I get to hang out with him occasionally. He's a big fan of dressing up in the right outfit whatever the occasion. (notice the chef's hat). On a side note, I'm making an official request for 'real' American candy canes next year. The ones here are nothing close.
Finally we buckled down and got ourselves an opera subscription (granted we sit in the nose-bleed section, but that's not the point!). This means that we regularly attend operas, muscials and dances. It's nice to enjoy the wonderful cultural opportunities that Graz offers at an affordable price and with friends, too! Tom took this pic of me and Caitlin at the opera.
What winter would be complete without a visit to Vienna? We get to visit friends and family as well as the Christmas markets. Vienna is truely magical at Christmas time. Any volunteers to visit us next Christmas?