American Thanksgiving in Canada

Hei,

Last Thursday during the American Thanksgiving, my heart was filled with thanks towards all of the people that are in my life right now.  The church that I attend on Sunday mornings decided to have an American Thanksgiving for all (2) of the American's attending the church.  At this point, I realized that I would no longer be going down to Ohio to join family for Thanksgiving, and that these people at church were willing to go completely out of there way for 2 people.  It made me feel so special, and so thankful for all of those servant hearts out there.

When Thursday finally rolled around, I had a place to celebrate Thanksgiving, when just a week before I thought that I was going to miss out on one of my favorite holiday's of the year.  I stepped from bitter cold outside air into a warm and cozy house with the smell of stuffing and turkey in the air.  Ten dishes were served at the Thanksgiving meal, and they made sure that we had football on the TV after we all finished eating.  It was oh so warming to see how much the people putting the Thanksgiving dinner together wanted us to feel at home.  I am so thankful for these people and all of the other beautiful people that are in my life right now :)

St. John's Christmas Parade  

On a different note, last Saturday was quite the comical day to me.  Before I talk about this event, let me just say that if you thought the Christmas season started early in America, ha!  Up here in Canada, the day after Halloween (Oct. 31st), Christmas was in full swing; all of the stores had their Christmas gear out, the people began putting lights up, tree decorating parties began, and Christmas plays started up.  It was really weird to me.  It still does not feel like the Christmas season has begun, yet it is seriously in full swing up here.  I am seeing all of these Christmas activities going on, but for some reason, I have no special emotion about it.  It is all just stuff to me right now.  So, be thankful that we have Thanksgiving in between Halloween and Christmas in America, for at least that gives us some kind of guide as to when we should start setting up for Christmas.

Okay, so St. John's had this Christmas Parade on Saturday.  As I walked to the parade that would be happening on Water Street, I looked up into the air to check out the helicopter that was flying bye, and lo and behold, there was Santa hanging out of the helicopter door waving to everyone!  Haha.  Prior to going to this event, some Newfie's told me that they took Christmas seriously here, but I surely wasn't aware of the level they took it to.  I managed to make it down to water street just as the first group in the parade arrived.  As I sat there and made friends with some guy in his 70's, dogs walked by in reindeer outfits, elves came by dancing to Christmas music, and even big bird from the Sesame Street made an appearance.  I couldn't help but sit there and laugh with my friend.  This parade went on for just shy of two hours, with nearly every parade character I ever thought existed coming down the street (and every dog breed).  Despite the randomness of some of the parade characters (luigi, beauty and the beast, pirates, etc.), we all had smiles on our faces.  It was a very lighthearted day, and nearly brought me into the Christmas spirit, but not quite.  Newfie's may be called goofy from other provinces in Canada, but there is no denying that they know how to have a good time!

The main attraction, riding on the iconic row houses and a semi truck.

Realization of our time here    

Some thing that I don't talk about too much, which definitely deserves a blog of it's own, is how close all of us international students have gotten, and how we all realize that the time we are spending here together, representing over 15 countries, will only be available for 3 more weeks.  Last Friday, we had a "graduation" dinner for 40 international students in a nice restaurant in downtown St. Johns.  We all dressed up in business casual wear, and spent nearly 4 hours at dinner together, realizing how special the semester has been.  The international students that organized the event, prepared a PowerPoint for the night, gave out awards to various people, and had speeches prepared to present to all of us.  It was a very nice night, and no one wants this semester to end.  Yes, we wouldn't mind the studying to end, but to be able to talk and hang out with so many people from so many completely different cultures...priceless.  Since being here, I feel like I have spent time all over the world.  I think what binds us all together the most is not that we are all from different countries, but that we all made the same decision to step out and come to St. John's for a semester, with nothing but ourselves and our clothes.  We all knew no one when we came here, but now, we know that we are capable of having great relationships with almost anyone.

Oppriktig,

Benjamin

 

A Day to Remember, Colourful Houses, and Signal Hill

Good Afternoon,

My intentions in this blog is to give you a little view into the town of St. Johns, and tell you a little about this holiday they celebrate in Canada (and in the other Commonwealth countries) called Remembrance Day.  I have been wanting to show you for a long time what downtown St. Johns looks like, so, finally, I am getting the chance to do just that!

On Sunday morning,  I turned over in bed and opened my eyes to a beautiful blue sky with the feeling of fall in the air.  As my mind began to wake, a thought went through my head that went "If there is a day that should be nice in a season full of rain, mist, fog, and darkness, today is the day."  Sunday was a special day in Newfoundland, and in all of Canada, for it is a day of remembrance - a day to remember all of the fallen Soldiers of WW1.  In America, there is Memorial Day, and also Veteran's Day, which is on the same day as Remembrance Day, but I don't ever remember these days in America.  All I ever knew is that they were holidays, and that I get school off...shallow of me, I know.  This day just seems to come up in America, without my knowing it, and then next thing I know, the day is gone and life moves on.

In Canada, Remembrance day seems to be much more sincere.  Starting at the beginning of November, people wear a poppy flower on their clothes throughout the day.  The first day I saw these, I knew something special was going on.  Then, the next day came around and people still had these poppy's on their shirts.  Word got around and I figured out what was going on.  Let me say, everyone wearing these poppy's for eleven days leading up to the Remembrance Day Parade was pretty inspiring.  I could tell that these people truly cared about remembering the fallen soldiers of WW1.  The anticipation of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month was amazing!

As I arrived in Downtown St. John's to meet up with friends to watch the parade, the town seemed to be more alive than ever.  The streets were packed full of people and families with their heavy coats, wool hats, scarves, and a warm cups of coffee.  The sound of the marching band filled the city, while thankfulness and sincerity filled the crisp, fall air.  As the parade began, we all followed after those serving in the military to the final destination of the ceremony.  I could feel so much excitement in the air.

Once we all made it to the final destination, the ceremony began.  In a city that is known to be the windiest city in all of Canada, a day like Sunday with no wind felt so peaceful and quiet.  We all stood around, in complete silence, for over an hour as the ceremony went on.  Here and there, little flakes of snow fell down from the clear blue skies.  I felt so in the moment and so at peace; I was willing to stand around in silence all day!  After the ceremony and parade, the entire town must have rushed out for brunch to the same, cozy and warm restaurant called Bagel Cafe. As the line went clear out the door of this little cafe, aromas of hot chocolate and pastries, as well as the occasional breezes of warm Bagel Cafe air and glimpses of a bustling fire kept us all in line.  Needless to say, brunch was well worth the wait :)

Three massive and beautiful horses that led the parade.   It was about a 20 minute walk (with nearly the entire town joining in) to get to the ceremony location.

The memorial ceremony was up the hill to the right, which isn't in this picture.  Not a very interesting picture.  I guess you had to be there :)  

The ceremony ends and everyone marches back.   I was more interested in getting a shot of the colourful shops one street up than I was of the soldiers,  so there they are lol.

Downtown St. John's and Signal Hill

For the rest of this blog, I will be posting up pictures and maybe writing a little caption under them.  I'm not too sure what way of blogging is more interesting for the reader - stories with pictures built in, or pictures with stories built in.  Times when I feel like there are a lot of pictures I want to share, it seems to be better to just show what I have taken pictures of.  So, without further ado, here are just a few pictures of what downtown St. John's looks like, along with a little hike I did with Jan up to Signal Hill.  I hope you enjoy and can get a feeling for what this city looks like.  

St. John's makes the list for one of the most colourful cities in the world.  This picture doesn't show it completely, but hopefully some of the pictures you see will.

My friend Hanna from Sweden on the right, with the St. John's Harbor in the background.

Some more colour in St. John's.  When walking through the city, nearly every house is a different colour than the one next to it.  Some rows of houses are more vibrant than others, while some seem to need a new paint job.

       

Saved the best for last :)  There are many streets in downtown that really stick out, with this clearly being one of them.    

Jan and I walking on our way to Signal hill.  Some very unique houses on the way there!

Still on our journey to get to the trail path.  When the sun is out in St. John's, people's clothes will be out on the clothes line.  I thought this picture was great.

The beginning of the trail.  Such a beautiful hike along the ocean.  At one point in the hike, you have to hold onto a chain that is bolted into the rock wall on your so that you don't fall off the cliff on your right! 

The destination at the top.  Wait, the journey is the destination.  Nevermind lol :)

I took this picture because of the big rocks that you see that look out of place in this scene.  I'm not sure if it was the case here, but Newfoundland is known for a lot of glacial activity back in the day.  Huge rocks were carried all over this island by glaciers, and then deposited when the glaciers melted.  When you get in the country of Newfoundland (a 2 minute drive), there are tons of massive rocks all over the place with glacial pools in their midst.

The edge of the world.

Cabot Tower. 

The city of St. John's.

Thank God for Colour.  The world just wouldn't be the same without it.

Well, that is it for this blog.  Thank you for reading and checking out some of what the scenery in St. John's is like.  I hope you don't mind me putting all of these pictures up.  This city is such a beautiful place and I don't think words do it complete justice.     

Sincerely,

Benjamin

The "Screech In" Ceremony and Other Doings

Hallo kjærlighet,

Since arriving on the island of Newfoundland, countless conversations with local's excited about my exchange to St. John's have brought up the question, "Have you been screeched in yet!?"  Along with this same question often came, "Have you had a Jigs Dinner?"  Well, I can proudly say that I have now done both of these special-to-Newfoundland activities in what some might call my right of passage into Newfoundland.

So, what is getting "Screeched in"?  If you're anything like me, Screech from my favourite childhood show   Saved by the Bell initially came to mind.  Maybe I will get to go to The Max and have a milkshake with Screech himself.  Unfortunately, getting Screeched in has nothing to do with Saved by the Bell.

Last night, Hanna, Mia, Vincent, and I all went down to the famous George Street to get "Screeched in."  I don't know if I have mentioned yet, but George Street is this street in down town St. John's that has more bars and pubs per square foot than any street in North America.  Maybe you could guess what a screech in entails?  Anyway, we went down town, registered for the ceremony, and then waited for the ceremony to begin at 11:15.  As you can see by my last sentence, it is a fairly structured event.

As the room of people anticipated the starting of the ceremony, this guy comes walking out onto the bar floor with some kind of sailor outfit on and a big boat paddle.  He immediately gets everyone's attention, yells to the bartender for a drink, and begins to speak in the very unique Newfoundland accent.  The act had begun.  The entire bar watches him as he speaks a thousand miles an hour while drinking his drink.  He sings a couple of songs, has the bar sing some songs with him, and then proceeds to call out all of the people that will be getting "screeched in" on the night.  (He was very entertaining and put on quite an act!  I felt as if I was in a pub in Ireland!)

He went around asking the Screechers their name and where they are from, while making a little joke about each one.  Of course, he decided to pick on the American from South Carolina and have me become the centre of the show for a while lol. To make a long, entertaining story short, the Sailor brought in a big Cod fish from the back of the room, and all of us Screechers had to get on our knees and kiss the Cod!  After this we all had to take a shot of this rum called Screech, and then try and say some very hard to understand Newfoundland saying.  Needless to say, no one could repeat the saying lol.  After this, we all got our certificate and officially got initiated into Newfoundland!

Other Doings

A ton has happened since my last blog.  While I have been away from this blog, I house sat for my host family here for a week while they went down to Florida (Canadians love Florida), which included taking care of the love of their life, Becky, and two of their cats.  While I truly missed having Dwight and Eilis around in the house, it was nice to be able to spread out on the couch and watch a movie.  Becky, on the other hand, probably couldn't wait for them to get back.  I was not as good at following the strict schedule that they have for her...sorry guys!  Two walks a day was tough for me, especially when it was cold and rainy out.

Becky and I outside soaking up some vitamin D.  This is about an hour before Eilis and Dwight arrived back in St. Johns from their trip to Florida.  This was the first day in two weeks that the sun came out.  I'm not exaggerating.

The sun fighting through the clouds, finally!  We did not even see a glimpse of the sun for 2 FULL weeks here.  You couldn't even tell where it was in the sky.  After about a week of no sun, many conversations started to revolve around how it had been so dark, and in wander of when the sun would come back out.  "I don't care where I am or what I am doing when that sun  finally comes out; I am dropping everything and going outside," I would say.  Here I am, exactly 14 days since seeing and feeling the sun on my skin.  You have to seize the moment when the weather is right here!

The Birthday meal :)

Also of great importance to me, the 23 anniversary of my birthday came around!  I have never been away from my family on my birthday, so this was somewhat of a big event for me.  When it comes to birthdays, I have always preferred to be with my family; I had nothing to do with my being born, so if anything I think that I should be celebrating with my parents, as they are the ones who brought me into this world.  Even so, I realized that a birthday is a day of love and thankfulness.  For the people that I told the date of my birthday to, whenever I saw them they would wish me happy birthday and ask me how it was.  You know what I told them, and what most other people want to say when asked how their birthday is going?  I told them that it felt like any other day.  However, at the end of the day, I felt extremely thankful to have people in my life that care to wish me a happy birthday and make sure that I feel appreciated and loved.

My good friend Hanna from Sweden :)

They surprised me with a birthday cake!  I was so thankful when I went to bed on my birthday that I could barely sleep.  People can be so kind!

One of the more unique things that I had the chance to experience in the last week is the St. John's Story Telling Festival that has been going on here.  I think that making the decision to attend one of the story telling events, which then followed with my attending more, will have long lasting effect on my life.  It was a Friday night, and Hanna, Mia and I went to this cozy bakery called the Rocket bakery.  Long story short (I would love to go into more vivid detail about most of my writings, but for the sake of time, I have to cut them back), here we were in a dimly lit, brick walled room--about 70 of us-- letting our imaginations go wild as we attentively listened to "magical and mystical" stories, with a warm cup of tea in hand.  I wish I could go into more detail about this, but I won't.  It was a very special night for us, and my interest has been sparked about increasing my imagination, learning how to better listen to people, and also how to captivate someone's attention in the form of storytelling.

To try and sum up all that has been going on here in Newfoundland over the past couple of weeks, there is this one thing that continues to excite me more than anything, and that is people.  One of the hardest things about being a Christian, and a reason why many Christians get a bad rep, is because of this huge concept called love.  Since I have been here, I have truly started to realize that the love that makes you feel warm and at peace inside is a love without conditions.  It's the type of love that says, "I don't care what you have done in your past, or what activities you partake in that I would not take part in;  I will love you, without judgement, because I am not the judge, but I am a child of Love."  I have realized that what I have heard from God is for me to follow.  I have found so much freedom in this idea and find myself excited to meet people, talk to them, listen to them, and try to come up with the words that their soul longs to hear.    

I hope you have enjoyed this blog.  I'm glad to give you a tiny glimpse into my time up here in good ol' Newfoundland :)

Med Kjærlighet,

Benjamin