O Canada

Oops. Somewhere during my two week trek across the continent I made a mental note to remember to keep you home bodies posted on my adventures, but there was so much excitement in the lands I travelled to and so little internet connection that the mental note must have crumpled and disintegrated.

Here I sit, back in America, back in Yankton, South Dakota, and back at Mount Marty for my final two months of undergraduate college....whoah. We're stopping that thought right there. That's too much to think about. Instead, let me take you back two weeks and a bit North. Let's talk Canada and then Mexico!!!! :)

Canada....let me think. I feel like that journey, though only two weeks ago, was a lifetime past. I remember a bus ride that at the time seemed quite lengthy, but in relation to a recent Mexico adventure was just a quick jaunt into town. If I remember correctly, we piled 11 people into a school van and headed straight north to Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada. The journey took approximately 8 hours (it was broken up by a rousing game of Catch Phrase and multiple homages to Canada as a few of the students took it upon themselves to learn and sing "O Canada" for the rest of the party) and us brave souls ventured up there for only 3 days time, but they were days packed full of culture and adventure.

When we arrived in Cananda on Friday night, we headed downtown to a historial area known as The Forks and ate at the Old Spaghetti Factory. The restaurant was really very quaint and if I remember correctly I ate more than my fair share of some scrumptous pasta.

Saturday was a very busy day. We woke up bright and early to head to a well-known art Museum (the name is slipping my memory right now, but grab the next edition of the Moderator for full details!). We browsed the exquisite selections for a couple of hours and then mafe our way to a museum (whose name has also been buried in the packed travel files). The museum was very interesting and offered a bit of interactive learning. We even got to pretend to be pirates for a few minutes on a full size replica of a ship (yep, you guessed it, I forgot the name of it as well....the Nonsuch perhaps....).

Late Saturday afternoon, we headed to the theatre for the first of two plays - the highlight of our English Club trip up there. I guess I failed to mention that the whole Canada trip was through the English Club at Mount Marty and all expenses, save a few of our meals and souvenirs, were supplied by the club. You can't beat that! Anywho, the first play was entitled Looking Back West and had a cast of one man. It was quite intriguing, unlike anything I've ever seen performed before. The single actor told his story of a troubled childhood and life on the streets, but the play was written in a picturesque manner and I was surprised at how well one actor could bring a very colorful story to life. After a quick lunch, we returned to the theatre for a production of Mother Courage. This 3 hour show proved to be very dramatic. It included some musical selections and lots of piano music (!!). It followed the story of a canteen woman and the devastation the Thirty Years' War reaked on her and her children. After a long, fun and adventure filled day, combined with drowsiness brought on by cold medication (the weather is rather brisk up north and my immune system didn't appreciate it) I hope no one will judge me too harshly when I admit that I dozed off a time or two during the productions. As a tribute to the performances though, even in my groggy state, I still managed to enjoy them and leave with an intact story line. :)

On Sunday morning we got up and attended a mass at the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church in Winnepeg. This was a beautiful ceremony although I spent the entire hour completely baffled and dumbfounded. They chant their entire Mass in Ukrainian and make the sign of the cross about 16 times more than we do at a regular Catholic Mass.

After all of that culture, it was time to head back to South Dakota. Afterall, we had only 5 days to prepare ourselves for our choir journey down to Mexico.... !!!!! :)