Toronto!

I'm in the center of the world for the next two weeks doing a course that is orientation for the trip I'm taking this summer to (probably) Sri Lanka with the Anglican Church. I say 'possibly' because the Canadian Anglican Church hasn't confirmed with the Sri Lankan Anglican Church yet- but it's looking positive! Anyway, here I am, and I arrived without too much fuss. The flight left Edmonton at 8:30, which made for an early morning, and then when I got my seat assignment, it turned out I was in the middle of a row. However, it was exit row, so not as bad as it could have been. And there were seat back TVs, which help pass the time.

I landed around 2:30, and when I was walking out of the gate I heard my name called. I turned around, and there was my Bishop, who was connecting with a flight to Montreal for some church business. Kind of random, but nice to see him.

After I collected my luggage I had to wait for one other person on this course, so we could share a cab. His flight landed an hour after mine, but then he waited an extra hour and a half for his luggage, before realzing that it probably wasn't coming. Aside from that little snafu, things went well, and we got to the center where the course is.

It's being held at a retreat center on the Scarborough Bluffs, which are apparently right beside lake Ontario (I haven't spent much time outside). The course will be pretty good - standard stuff about culture, but very useful for me, I think.

This is for Steph

Anne and Jude have made it safely to Rocky, and brought with them a directive from Steph that I post more on the blog. I made it here last week, after a pretty straightforward paper/ exam period. Two long papers that both went quite well (well, the one I've heard about went well, and I'm pretty sure about the other) and one Hebrew exam that was more difficult than it should have been. Part of the problem was that we weren't taught all that well. It was a very basic introduction in six weeks, and the instructor had trouble fitting it all in, which led to him going very quickly over how to parse verbs in the last class. His hurry meant that I and a friend had to teach ourselves how to parse the verbs, and then I got up the morning of the exam and taught more of my classmates. The upside was that I really understood it all quite well, since I always learn better by teaching. The downside was that, well, my classmates had to learn from me, a dodgy proposition at best.

But it came and went, and it was ok. Not a piece of cake, by any means, but manageable. With a little luck that will be the last Hebrew I have to do.

And now I'm home until the 4th, when I'm going to Toronto for two weeks. I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I'm going overseas with the church for three months next summer. I don't know where yet, but I will be working with an Anglican church in a non-western country. I'll be seeing how they do things and getting a sense of how the church works in the world wide context. The two weeks in Toronto are training and orientations, mostly of the "how not to be a stupid white person" genre. Normally the two weeks of the course would not mean that I miss any school, since VST usually has a two week interterm. However, this year, because of the Olympics, the interterm is cancelled, and we have a two week reading break (during the Olymics). So, I'm going to miss the first two weeks of all my classes. I've arranged for notes, and bought the books and started pre-reading, so if I keep this pace up I'll be actually more prepared than usual!

First Week done

I have finished my first week in TO, sitting at the airport, ready to go home. I always find the first week on a project stressful, because everything is new, it takes time to get all your access, and learn who everyone is and ehat they do. On this project it is a bit better because, I know lots of people from other projects, and the connectiong stuff, with the network and computer went really well.

Still feeling kind of poorly, had Al make an appointment with the DR. for tomorrow, cause I lot my voice earlier in the week, however, it seems to be back now, kind of, but think I will go anyway. My sides are still pretty sore from coughing and it would be good to make sure everything is coming along.

Mom I am sorry I missed calling you on Sunday, I was so frazzled by travelling again, that I totally forgot. Maybe you should look for a replacement daughter, one who is more with it.

Looking forward to the weekend, I think I will hit the market, and pickup some flowers for the balcony, so it does not look so dreary.

Hoping that I will have more energy next week, and might get out a bit more. Did you know they have a shoe museum here? I can't wait to see it.