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