Reflections #2 Canada

6 months ago, I never would have thought Canada would be the kind of place I would find myself visiting, and yet, I left, realizing that I would probably never be in a place so magical again!

All the reflections in #1 apply to my time in Canada, but here are some more!

Landscape: Alberta, where I was staying, was remarkable.  There I was, coming in to land, wondering (only for a few seconds) what all the white stuff was!!  Within minutes, I’d seen the Northern Lights (something I’d barely hoped to witness), and been blasted by the minus temperatures.  I saw my first frozen river, walked on a frozen lake, driven through the Rocky Mountains, toured the flat prairies, eaten an icicle off the side of a cliff, seen a frozen waterfall, admired the sunsets, and loved the snow on the forest trees!  It truly was a beautiful place!

Weather: Well, Dad had been laughing at me for days about the Alberta weather.  James had said things like, “Your gonna die”, and I’d spent ages figuring out survival tactics.  In the end, I thought the weather was definitely manageable!  It turns out they had a warm spell while I was visiting!  I absolutely LOVED the fresh air and the blast of cold that you get when you go outside (and hang your head out of the truck window), but I learnt to appreciate the heated seats very quickly!

People: The first thing I noticed about the people, was that I found it harder to understand Canadians than Americans.   Of course, everyone is different, so it’s had to describe my impressions of people without generalizing, but here goes!  I was blown away by how genuinely kind people were to a stranger.  I truly was a stranger and felt like it (knowing pretty much only one person in the whole country), but people were so generous to me!  Not just with a place to stay, but with their time, and their lives!  I really loved the people I was living with, and found them so genuine in their welcome of me!

Culture: One huge stand out when I thought about the culture of the place (and this will be somewhat limited to the people I met), was that family was a huge influence.  My experience in Australia, is that you would graduate school, move to the city, and go to uni/work – the family plays a part in your preparation for that.  In Canada, the family seemed to play a far more significant role in the life of a young person, in terms of decision making and life choices.  This obviously is a great thing, but seemed to have big pressures attached.

There are other things I would like to comment on, but I fear to generalize or misrepresent things.  I would, however, be happy to chat about my impressions of spirituality, the state of the Church, the influence of the government and other such things.

Finally, some quirky food: dutch salty licorice, powdered iced tea, chocolate milk (they drink it all the time), applesauce on chicken (best ever), double double (coffee with double cream, double sugar)!

Photo journal here: http://www.tripcolor.com/user/50783/trip/49369-North-American-Adventures