Canada
Last summer, I dreamed of going to Canada. When everything was brown and dead, I longed for the green cool of the northern world.
This year, I finally got to go... but only for 48 hours.
Crazy? Yeah maybe. But I was given the opportunity to take wedding photos for my dear friend, Ruth, whom I met during the 4 weeks of orientation in Chicago for Radical Journey. Although she was several years younger than I, we bonded right away. We were often in each other's company, wondering what the up coming year would hold for us, me in South Africa and Ruth in Paraguay.
After our year abroad, we came back to Chicago for a week of reentry, but we headed back off to our homes in the various parts of North America. Ruth lived outside of Kitchener, Ontario. I was heading to my parents' home in Asheville, North Carolina.
Service is an interesting thing. Being a part of a group of individuals who all decide to give up a year of their "ordinary lives" and do something completely different is even more interesting. It has a way of binding you together in ways that don't often form any way else. Since that last week in Chicago back in July 2010, I hadn't seen Ruth at all and, minus a few facebook messages, hadn't really kept in touch. But there I was last weekend, flying all the way to Ontario to stay with people I did not know and take photos of Ruth's wedding.
I was honored and nervous, excited and apprehensive.
But minus a small incident of being left at the church, everything went smoothly. It was so awesome to see Ruth again, this time in her home environment. Everyone was so nice and Canada was as green and cool as I had imagined it would be.
It was a fun weekend, despite the whirlwind of it all. Moreover, it was also a good reminder that I can travel places by myself to locations where I know barely anyone and be completely fine. That, in it of itself, is awesome.
(Pictures will hopefully be up on my photography blog soon).
This year, I finally got to go... but only for 48 hours.
Crazy? Yeah maybe. But I was given the opportunity to take wedding photos for my dear friend, Ruth, whom I met during the 4 weeks of orientation in Chicago for Radical Journey. Although she was several years younger than I, we bonded right away. We were often in each other's company, wondering what the up coming year would hold for us, me in South Africa and Ruth in Paraguay.
After our year abroad, we came back to Chicago for a week of reentry, but we headed back off to our homes in the various parts of North America. Ruth lived outside of Kitchener, Ontario. I was heading to my parents' home in Asheville, North Carolina.
Service is an interesting thing. Being a part of a group of individuals who all decide to give up a year of their "ordinary lives" and do something completely different is even more interesting. It has a way of binding you together in ways that don't often form any way else. Since that last week in Chicago back in July 2010, I hadn't seen Ruth at all and, minus a few facebook messages, hadn't really kept in touch. But there I was last weekend, flying all the way to Ontario to stay with people I did not know and take photos of Ruth's wedding.
I was honored and nervous, excited and apprehensive.
But minus a small incident of being left at the church, everything went smoothly. It was so awesome to see Ruth again, this time in her home environment. Everyone was so nice and Canada was as green and cool as I had imagined it would be.
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| My first Canadian Tim Hortons experience... and it was free! Awesome! |
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| Eating ice cream in Canada, check. |
(Pictures will hopefully be up on my photography blog soon).
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