Bittersweet Reality

Last week was one of both supreme joy and utmost sadness for me. Cheerful if not downright great because my sister came up for a visit. In commemoration of her sojourn we decided to rent a vehicle and drive to Ottawa, visiting the acquaintances that we had made there. This worked out quite well and in the favour of all due to the fact that Ottawa was one of the only places in Ontario that still had snow. Coming from the Bahamas she only wanted to see snow, hilarious but quite in character with many of my family members' curiosity about snow. She claims that that was all my five year old niece wanted for her to bring back from Canada for her.
After arriving in Ottawa we discovered that our compatriots were preparing for a cultural fest called Soca versus Reggae and of course we were invited to tag along. Being from the Bahamas we were exposed to both genre's of music. Soca being a Trinidadian art form and Reggae the Jamaican counterpart. The unanimous decision amongst us all was to represent and dress in our aquamarine, gold and black. The irony being our colours stood out more than any other! We represented well!
After leaving Ottawa and arriving back in St. Catharines on Monday evening my sister decided she wanted to see Lady Liberty and so once again we took to the hills and embarked on a six hour drive to NYC. This journey took us through 3 states, Upper New York State, Pennsylvannia and New Jersey. We strolled along Canal Street, bought T shirts and took pictures of the construction at ground zero. Then got lost at Jersey State Park while we got the directions to backtrack our jourey and enjoy Lady Liberty as well. It was a bonding experience long overdue and well enjoyed. This climaxed into the St. Patrick's day holiday for us. We returned the six and a half hour drive back to Canada - 3 of those hours in the pitch dark night and following the most dangerous stretch of the journey. God's grace guided my hands on the wheel, kept me focused and my reflexes coiled and prepared for anything that could have came my way.

Sad but true the following day I was to find out about the death of a first year student due to an aneurism. A young girl no more than 19 years old cut down in her prime. This saddened me, yet at the same time made me grateful. I am here to live and hustle for another day. I am truly blessed and possibly even highly favoured.
The reality of life is bittersweet. You have to take the bitter with the sweet, the yin with the yang, the night with the day and the dark with the light. You live the life you love and learn to appreciate the life you live. Thank God for life!!!

Randoms @ BrockU

Over the past two weeks, I have had many random incidents that are becoming poignant memories for me. For instance, a gentleman outside of the library wearing the sign that said 'Hug me, It's Free'. So I gave him a hug, simply because for one, he looked like he needed one and two, I probably needed one too. Walking alongside me, my companion wailed the laughter so rocked her sides she could not compose herself. She claims to have seen me in a different light on that day and my guess was because it was then that she realized that am that type that typically goes against the grain and I am not really in league with the status quo. "You never cease to amaze me", she claimed. I guess I don't.
My presence here at the school now seems to be one that stands out. My supposition and being right in line with my personality is the fact that I have always been the type of person that stood out. I am not tooting my own horn here. I find many of my classmates will pass me on the bus or in the halls and either say 'hello', acknowledge me with a nod of their heads or start a completely random conversation with me. I do the same. I consider it a sign of respect.
About three weeks ago, friends from Ottawa visited and were totally awed. High on their totem pole of questions was the duration of the time that I had spent at the school, they could not believe that I had only been on campus for about two months because they considered me quite popular. "Everywhere we go this girl knows someone dread!" (Bahamians of course, hence the slang) To my horror (and I found that Brooke would test my knowledge on this one day after such an incident occurred by asking me the name of a classmate) I often could not tell you their names, just that I either had a class or a seminar with them. Sad but true and so out of character for me - maybe the transition in coming from a smaller University? or maybe I can chalk it up to the age factor? I doubt it, there is no excuse for not knowing the names of your fellow classmates except that of being human.

Devotion @ Brock

I recently had Holy Experiences at Brock University. Yes, Me! Holy experiences. With the dawn of lent I found myself in the little campus church at Rita Welch chamber, just outside of the Sankey Chamber. There was a little Mass conducted and ashes distributed all of which occurred in approximately a half hour long service. Catholicism, I found out is very widely distributed in Canada and may in fact be the major religion. I accompanied the Ash Wednesday service by attending mass the following Sunday evening.
In studying here, I realized that most if not all Catholic Schools in Canada are either eligible for or can acquire some type of support from the Ontario Government. This is much to the consternation of other denominations and some religions such as the Protestant and Muslim faiths have protested the practice as unjust. However I have found out that the Ontario school board does not regulate the schools that they support. That means either you or I can legally come in, open up a school (as long as there is no religious affiliation of course) and take in students with the charade of educating young minds. Canada, like the US, unless the school is funded outside of the government is not allowed to indoctrinate any religion on it's students.
One Catholic school, which shall remain nameless, conduct their religious exploits outside of the school board operational hours, which is either before the start of or following the cessation of the school day. Once you or your child attends a school, especially a catholic school it is done with a certain ambiguity that certain moral code and curriculum be adhered to in addition to the Ontario Curriculum. Having the advantage of Catholic Education for the majority of my pre-tertiary school years, may in fact leave me biased towards all the benefits that a catholic education may entail. What may constitute as a beneficial educational pursuit by me, may indeed be considered indoctrination by others. Canada is an ethnic kaleidescope of people, beliefs and cultures. We must always bear in mind that what is good for the goose is not always good for the gander and we must be mindful of the feelings of others. Respecting others so that we may inturn recieve respect.