It seems as if the days on Grace's farm eating weeds was so long ago... I have accomplished so much since then: I've worked in a factory and on a farm, eaten a "Whatchamacallit," had restaurant food TWICE and had to tell a radical evangel that no I will not repeat him and ask Jesus into my heart. I would have preferred to say "stop yelling in my face you are scaring me" but I chickened out because he was going to be around me for the next hour.
Anyways, orientation is still going well, the three day road trip almost pushed me over the edge but we have finally got back to New Windsor and I was able to escape into my dorm room for a couple of hours of JP time.
Last week we had a "work day" here at the college and I was at a shipping centre place type thing where I unpacked Canadian Ivory soap for two hours. Each bar had an inspirational saying so at first it was an uplifting experience but you know what Ivory? Reading the "shortest road always leads to friends" and "Simplicity is joy" forty thousand times just gets annoying. Word of advice - You need more than eight sayings. After that we did a quality control check on donated school bags and baby blankets. When I grow up I do not want to work in a factory.
The next day was called "work-day in the city" and that morning we realized we had been duped by our leadership team. LIARS! LIARS ALL OF THEM! Instead we were divided into groups and driven around the countryside for forty five minutes and then dropped off with a sandwich, a letter saying who we were, and the commandment to find 1. work and 2. a ride home. After sobbing in a ditch for fifteen minutes my group realized that we were really only 4 miles from New Windsor (I speak American now - but I still don't really understand what a mile is).
-Marcel trying to be brave
-This looks pretty when you aren't stranded there.
-Majestic and very empty farm
Anyways, none of the farmers were home, and the ones that who were home were mean, rude or just not interested in us. It took us all morning to make it to the neighbouring town. The townsfolk (or willagers), were not interested in letting us help them either. At around 3pm it began to rain this was an hour before we needed to make the "emergency cell phone call of defeat" to get a leader to rescue us. A guy finally came out on his lawn to ask us what we were up to. We chatted about how weird Canadians are (a favorite topic of most people here) and then he offered to drive us to the local pizza place to sit out the rain for the next hour. He turned out to be local youth leader and habitat for humanity guy and when he took us into the restaurant everyone there seemed to LOVE him. He bought the three of us a giant, glutenous, cartoon pizza and the owner gave us a free "soda". After we explained to him that we were trying to live out the idea of "service in the community" he told us that sometimes service means letting people help you - I wasn't going to argue with a man who was providing free pizza. When we finished the entire pizza we asked if we could take a picture with the owner to prove we had done something. She then felt so bad for us that she drove us home and gave us her cell phone number in case the MEAN leaders EVER did this to us again. (Just joking leaders - we only said nice things about you... Your credibility in Union Bridge is safe). I just got off the phone with said pizza lady and she might be giving us more free pizza when I grow up these networking skills will come in handy however, I do not want a job that drops me off in the wilderness and tells me to find a way home.
-We made it to a town!
- Ahhh remember the days of the pizza trade?
- Cartoon pizza woooooooo!
The rest of the week was spent doing various activities such as going to a local church, doing a crossword every morning (the Washington Post has a crossword puzzle that four of us can actually finish), attending sessions on what we want to be when we grow up (hippo) and peace. Oh! And of course, another farm... My parents would be so proud - two farms in two weeks! I did so much work that day I ruined a pair of jeans (they were old Anita don't worry). I picked two cases of green tomatoes, a ground hog ran across my feet, a threw a fuzzy orange worm off of my arm, I looked at a giant praying mantis (the third I have seen since I have been here), and planted a LOT of strawberries. (Family members skip the next sentence). We also taught the Germans English Lesson #17 - Sexual Innuendos. It was an all around great day on the farm. When I grow up I do not want to be a tomato farmer - ITCHY ARMS!!!
Time for the last grocery run.
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