Flip Out of Water

So, I'm in Sudbury!

It was quite the experience getting here, I must say. The bus was late departing. It was actually quite confusing - not sure if i was in the right line up. But, it all worked out in the end.

The most memorable part of the bus ride was the Amish family that was waiting in the bus line up. I was thinkging to myself, "Omigod! Where am I going? What have I gotten myself into?" But I think they were actually going to Alberta, as Sudbury was the first of many stops. The guy I was sitting next to was going to Saskatoon and wouldn't arrive until Wednesday! Today is Monday! When I got on the bus, there were two seats open: a Black guy and an old White dude. I chose to sit next to the Black guy. i figure I should soak in as much ethnic diversity while I can. Plus, I'd be sitting on the aisle and I figure that the old guy might have to go to the washroom a lot. It turned out to be a good choice. The old man behind us talked WAY too much! The dude sitting next to me and I had some good conversation, but I did't feel obligated to talk the whole. I needz to nap!

Anyway, back to the Amish. The only knowledge I had of Amish people was Weird Al Yankovic's Amish Paradise and a little known movie called Holy Matrimony. So, i was sort bewildered upon seeing a woman in full black and brown Amish garb, bonnet and all (and it was HOT today) and her two sons in black dress pants and vests with straw hats. I later spotted the rest of the family inside the terminal (two men, a woman and a baby). I didn't know the Amish traveled by Greyhound! I thought horse-drawn carriages were their vehicle of choice. And the two men were also talking on the pay telephone for a while. You'll have to excuse my ignorance in the matter, but I thought you can get shunned for all the technological usage!

And I don't even know if they were Amish - I just assumed that they are. They look like they have names like Jebediah and Ezekiel, so i figure I'm correct in my assumptions. And man, the kicker was when the boys took of their hats. I know that the Amish aren't really known for their sense of style, but those were some haircuts they had! They had long hair in a bowl cut, but the bottom of their hair was shaved just above the neck. They sort of looked like a 15th Century Dauphin of France (anyone see the TV movie Joan of Arc? They look like Neil Patrick Harris a.k.a. Doogie in it. Or Milhouse when Lisa was Joan of Arc. Anyone? Anyone?) And the cutting wasn't even straight. I ended up staring at their hair for a good 5 minutes. The probably thought I was some perv, but i was just appalled by their hairstyling. And when one of the mothers passed the baby to the father, he grabbed her with one arm? ONE ARM! He just grabbed the baby's shoulder and plopped him on his lap. Don't the church elders have some sort of rule against that kind of behaviour!?

Anyway, I'm sorry if I offend any Amish people out there, but then again, the Amish wouldn't have computers, right? Or do they?

The rest of the trip consisted of me sleeping, interrupted by a stop at McDonald's (I had fish-a-fillet...yum!) followed by more sleeping. Then i took a taxi to to the town house I'm staying at and voilà, here I am.

The woman I'm renting from (let's just call her "C") is really sweet. I met her daughter who's half Irish and half Indian - she's also very nice. The house is pretty good. It's 3 floors, so lots of space. I've got my room all set up and I'm all unpacked. C took me around the area and she also took me out to dinner, which was really sweet of her. I have an expense account for food, which C knows about, but she wanted to treat me as a nice welcome for me. We went out for Indian food, which apparently she will cook from time to time.

She's actually very interesting. She has Nursing degree but also did a Masters in Environmental Studies, which is more planning based. She's done a lot of innovative work related to health and First Nations. i really like her worldview, or at least what I think her worldview is. She is definitely very culturally aware and knows the limits of common Western biases. She also has a lot of random knowledge about history and stuff, which i LOVE! She's always spitting out facts about Ireland. She takes Irish lessons which I may take part in too.

As for ethnic diversity here...yeah, it's pretty white. But that was to be expected. There was one Asian girl on the bus that got off at Sudbury, but not sure if she's local or not. While driving here, we passed by the "Bridge of Nations" which has the flags of all the countries of origin of Sudbury residents. To my surprise, there were tons of flags. And yes, even a Filipino one!!! So, my goal is to seek out the Filipinos here and maybe they'll cook for me :) C says that there is some ethnic diversity here, albeit relatively small. But apparently there are a couple Indian restaurants, a Korean one and new Thai place. So, I'm not totally isolated from my peoples of colour.

Well, I've rambled enough for now. Tomorrow I'm gonna explore for realz and I'll try to take some pics (I would've taken pics of the Amish family, but I thought that would a be a bit too intrusive). Getting to walk around a bit more tomorrow will give me a better grasp of the kinds of people and places that are here. Apparently the hospital I'll be working at is across the street, so that'll be good for those hard to get up days.

So long for now. Seacrest, out.