'You Must be Canadian' Nice

When they tell you to stay indoors...you go on a snowshoeing
adventure :)

I write this from Ottawa, Canada, which during my time here became the coldest capital in the world. When I stepped off the plane, it was actually nice and refreshing, no snow yet. But then, starting the next day, it started to snow and it has barely stopped. I went from 32 degrees Celsius to -30 degrees Celsius. It’s so cold that the radio and TV stations are telling everyone to stay inside. It’s so cold that they cancelled some big outdoor hockey games because the ice was cracking due to the cold. When it’s so cold that the ice can’t handle it… but to be honest, I’ve (mostly) loved all the cold and snow! I got to play hockey on the outdoor rink with my brother and to go snowshoeing with my mom and sister. I also tried to go for a run outside and almost killed myself because that was a terrible idea. But all in all, I love the things that accompany winter and how resilient Canadians are!

My last week on the Ship was a blur as I hosted a lovely group of Norwegians and then left Cameroon the same day they did. The first couple of weeks home were busy – seeing most of my family again, getting to meet my mom’s lovely church members, taking a road trip with my sister to go see my church family in Toronto and then on to Indiana to see Tyler and Anna and Will. I was really blessed to have this time with my sister and to get to see everyone. Seeing people from the Ship actually helped me adjust and feel much more comfortable at home. The first few days were a real struggle, even though I had prepared myself. As well-meaning as people are, they have no context for what you have experienced so they don’t ask questions. They don’t know where to start. Once I just started talking about it and sharing pictures, then people started to have more questions. Seeing Tyler and Anna and Will reminded me that it’s not necessarily the Ship I miss, it’s the people and the community. After all the Ship is just a place (although a very special place that encourages and enables close community). If I’m intentional, I can hopefully build the same kind of community here at home. It was also great to get to talk about the Ship, to people who understood. After all, this has been my home for the last two years.

Laying some concrete with friends!

It was amazing to get to meet Tyler’s family and spend time with them. I couldn’t help but laugh at some of the stereotypically American things (the need to protect your property from the government with guns; hearing a 6 year old say ‘waiting on a woman’ in an American accent), so we all went to a stereotypically Canadian place – Tim Hortons (yes, there are Tim Hortons in Indiana!). We also got to go to work with Tyler. It turns out that concrete is pretty much the same in America and Africa – however having it pour out of a giant mixer instead of mixing it by hand, was a nice difference! Hearing from friends how their adjustments home were going also helped. It helped me understand that it would take a while, and that it was okay to not always be okay. 

There have been lots of visits to Tim
Hortons and lots of sister time :)

The question on my heart these last couple of months has been, should I stay or should I go? To the many people who have talked this out with me, they have heard me come back to one thing: I felt like God was challenging me, asking me if I could still follow Him in the ‘boring’, the mundane, the every day. I Skyped my sister shortly before coming home and I shared some things that been happening on the Ship and then asked her what she had been up. She something along the lines of oh you know, my life is pretty boring compared to yours. But I love it. The last part hit me hard. This is what God was calling me to. Not a boring life. But certainly a much different life than life on the Ship. Life on the Ship is frenetically paced, go go go. In many ways, this suits my personality. And I had felt for a while that God was calling me to something slower. But also calling me to love it, to love Him and pursue Him just as much.

In many ways, I’ve been consistently surprised during my time here. While there are always some people who aren’t willing to engage (when I asked one lady at Timmies how she was doing, she just smiled at me and walked away from the counter), most people have been very friendly. Beyond just saying fine, when you ask them how they are, I’ve heard stories of people sleeping through alarms and running to work, people enjoying their busy day at work, people happily commenting on the snow or the cold. Maybe it was me that used to be too busy to truly see people and engage with them. It’s one thing to stop and talk to people now while I’m on ‘vacation’ and relaxing, but my challenge to myself is to keep it up once I’m busy with school, work, church, friends, etc. 

The whole family!

Other than being weirdly friendly, I don’t think I’ve made too many cultural mistakes. Only one incident sticks in my mind. When we were playing hockey on the outdoor rink, a lady came with a family size of hot chocolate from Timmies and asked if anyone wanted some. Her husband skated over and grabbed some but no one else moved. Maybe during our next break, I shouted over to her. So when I was all done for the day and headed into the little hut to take off my skates, there she was with her boys and husband with the hot chocolate. Could I have some hot chocolate now? I asked the boys. They looked at me like I had grown a third head. So I helped myself to some and smiled. I chatted with them a bit and shared that I had been on the Africa Mercy. I thanked them for the hot chocolate, the lady gave me a bit of a strange look, and I headed home. It’s only as I walked home that I realized maybe she hadn’t been offering it everyone? Maybe it was just for her family…I have no idea. My experience with warm cultures is that you would never bring out food or drink without offering to share it with others. And you’re expected to partake. So that’s what I assumed was happening, but things are quite different in cold cultures. I started laughing as I thought about how confused they must have been if their intention wasn’t to share. Here was this random girl coming and helping herself. 

I saw the funniest commercial during my time here, called ‘you must be Canadian’ nice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYuicoOti2M. It’s playing off the fact that Canadians are very nice, except when it’s game time. Being away for so long and coming home made me realize how much I love this country and its people. It’s been good to be home J But now it’s time to head back to the Ship and continue the work God has presently called me to.

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). ~ Matthew 1:23

Early December, after the first snow!