I meant to take waaaaayy more pictures then I did this week, but I haven't been feeling too well as of late. Not sure if it's allergies or my body getting sick after all the chaos before I left. Usually when I'm GO GO GO, right after I get sick for a few days. Needless to say, I'm taking garlic and oil of oregano pills like candy.
Lots of things to report. The weather here is a nice 28 degrees at all times. It's gorgeous and from what folks are saying, it's going to be a nice long autumn this year. What a change from home, where fall lasts what, 4 weeks before there's snow on the ground? New Haven doesn't get snow till late November, middle of December. And even then it stays around -10. And they said it would be cold!
I went to an Episcopal church last Sunday. It was interesting, but much too formal for my tastes. There was singing throughout the service, but it was all traditional songs and the entire gospel was sung as well. The woman singing had her eyes closed and related the whole passage without reference. When you were getting up for communion, you had to kneel at the end of the chairs (because there were no pew's only old wooden chairs) and then they handed you a wafer and the wine. Then you left through a chapel on the right side where you bowed to the front and went back to your seat. The creed had lots of bowing and kneeling involved. It was way too traditional for my tastes. But then when looking in the booklet they hand you, there was a Gay and Lesbian Fellowship you could join! They were very open about their beliefs about accepting all people. I thought that was neat.
I went to a huge cook off after wards. From what I had gathered, I envisioned a typical Winnipeg BBQ. You know, someones back yard with a cooler of beer and a burnt hot dog to gnaw on. Yeah right. This was a scene from "Message in a Bottle". It was at this beach house that was rented on the ocean. Sail boats, light houses, rolling waves, cut rock and ocean. I was seriously looking for Keven because I thought I'd been thrown into a Hollywood movie. And of course I forgot my camera. There were over 70 people there, lots of kids and Batchi Ball. Yes, I played Batchi Ball. We were out there for most of the day, I was starting to feel like an American. *gasp!
Monday was Labour Day and I spent it enthralled in Ikea. Now, I know there's Ikea's in Canada, but I've never been to one and man, this thing was over whelming. Firstly, it was a total maze. And oh my God, the show rooms! I wanted to buy everything. We got to the counter, paid for our purchases (a new shower curtain for the house because the old one was so covered in mold that once in there you were scared of being sucked into an abyss...) and then bought .50 cent hot dogs. Just. Because. We. Could. I was both amazed and appalled at this store. Amazed because, well it was REALLY pretty and appalled because, man, that was A LOT of stuff. American consumerism at it's best. Eat your heart out.
Today has been a lazy day. The DTS starts officially on Friday with a big dinner. There's 6 students this year; 2 boys, 2 girls and a couple. Some nice surprises; we will be going to Nova Scotia to work on an apple orchard for a week in October. So I'll be in Canada for Canadian Thanksgiving! Yay turkey! TWICE! When we leave for India we'll be stopping in London for the connection. We'll be there for an entire day so we'll have some time to look around which is really neat. And the last week that we're in India is going to be spent traveling around and I'm definitely lobbying for Agra to see the Taj Mahal!
I've also decided to crochet hats for the babies in the orphanage. You know when you're born you get a pink hat if you're a girl and a blue one for a boy? Well I don't suppose these children get anything like that. I'll make them out of lighter fabric as it is India. I can't wait to get out there.
These one dollar bills are starting to get to me.
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